NC medical regulators to cut back Web data
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RALEIGH, N.C. — State medical regulators have voted to cut back on the amount of information they post on a Web site about malpractice settlements of North Carolina doctors.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Wednesday that the North Carolina Medical Board decided to only post settlements that total more than $25,000 on its Web site. The amount is the level at which a doctor’s malpractice insurance premiums are affected.
Medical board members also voted to reduce the number of years that malpractice information would be displayed. The information has been shown for a seven-year period, but now it will be shown from October 2007, the date the Legislature created the rule.
Some doctors and their attorneys had argued that publishing malpractice settlements could violate secrecy clauses and have threatened lawsuits.
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