Texas Medical Board After facing a statewide doctor shortage for years, the Texas Medical Board said it issued a record number of medical licenses this past fiscal year.
The 3,621 doctors licensed in fiscal 2008 beat last year’s record-setting 3,324. The number of licenses issued in the state has jumped almost 44 percent in two years, according to the medical board.
The board had grappled with a surge in applications that created a backlog of more than 2,000 applicants seeking a medical license to practice here.
The Texas Medical Association makes the case that the surge can be attributed to the medical malpractice lawsuit limits, TORT REFORM passed by the Legislature in 2003.
The Texas Alliance for Patient Access, a nonprofit coalition of health care workers, found that 21 rural Texas counties have added at least one obstetrician – including 12 counties that previously had none – since passage of the Tort Reform law.
Legal Analyis: In their haste to license and reduce the backlog of physicians who are waiting to be licensed, I hope that a few bad apples are not slipping through the cracks and getting licensed without full evaluation by the board. Our patients, taxpayers and Texan citizens need to be protected from the unscruplous few who may be wanting to take advantage of the medical malpractice environment down here in Texas.