Doctors in Older Age: Should They Be Evaluated on Their Fitness?

I‘ve heard a few times about concerns regarding doctors in their 70s and 80s who continue to practice medicine. The implication is that their age might somehow make them less fit to practice medicine. I’ve also heard the same concerns expressed about attorneys. Do we concern ourselves with professional fitness just based on age for any other profession? Not for us law profs.  So I was interested in reading this article from the Philadelphia Inquirer, More doctors are practicing past age 70. Is that safe for patients? 

The article opens with the story of one pediatrician who at 76, was required by his hospital to be evaluated. This hospital “is among the growing number of hospitals that are reevaluating doctors simply because they are old. Their age puts them at higher risk for physical and cognitive changes that could imperil patients.” Other doctors quoted in the article oppose such actions, arguing the lack of “scientific evidence correlating such test results with physician performance. They have, however, grudgingly accepted physical testing and peer review.”  The article notes a trend of sorts on this issue

In 2015, the American Medical Association called for guidelines to evaluate aging doctors, although it did not specify what they should be.  It also said doctors have a “professional duty” to self-assess.  The American College of Surgeons last year said surgeons should voluntarily undergo testing by their personal physicians and  disclose any problems to their employers.

There are likely more older physicians still practicing then you might think. To some extent, the article notes, that taking action now internally is preemptive.   There’s a two-day challenging testing program, “[t]he  Aging Surgeon Program, which is available to doctors from anywhere,  involves extensive cognitive and physical testing as well as evaluation of balance, reaction time, and fine motor skills.”  Penn Medicine has implemented cognitive testing for all of their doctors who are 70 or older. The article looks at what other medical facilities in the area are doing. 

I suspect this is an issue we will hear more about in the future.