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'''Sham peer review''' is a growing problem in [[hospital]]s that misuse [[peer review]] to discipline and even exclude [[physician]]s from their medical staffs.<ref>“Sham peer review is rampant.  It threatens not only quality care for all of our patients, but the very integrity of the medical profession.” See Lawrence R. Huntoon, M.D., Ph.D., Sham Peer Review and the Courts, JOURNAL OF AMERICAN PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS, Volume 11, No. 1, Spring 2006, at 4-5, available at http://www.jpands.org/vol11no1/huntoon.pdf (last visited May 23, 2007).</ref> Sham peer review includes anticompetitive manipulation of peer review to eliminate popular physicians from the [[market]], or to [[retaliate]] against physicians who are outspoken in favor of improved patient care.   

'''Sham peer review''' is a growing problem in [[hospital]]s that misuse [[peer review]] to discipline and even exclude [[physician]]s from their medical staffs {{fact}}. Sham peer review includes anticompetitive manipulation of peer review to eliminate popular physicians from the [[market]], or to [[retaliate]] against physicians who are outspoken in favor of improved patient care {{fact}}.   

Hospitals have incentives to conceal and cover up errors in order to avoid [[malpractice]] cases.  Physicians are deterred from reporting errors out of fear of sham peer review {{fact}}. The Tampa Tribune (12/28, Gentry) reported that over 80 percent of a one-year's sample of a type of patient safety error was never reported to the  state of [[Florida]], even though reporting was required by law.{{fact}}

Hospitals have incentives to conceal and cover up errors in order to avoid [[malpractice]] cases.  Physicians are deterred from reporting errors out of fear of sham peer review. The Tampa Tribune reported that over 80 percent of a one-year's sample of a type of patient safety error was never reported to the  state of [[Florida]], even though reporting was required by law.<ref>Tampa Tribune (12/28, Gentry)</ref>

==References==

==References==

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[[category:science]]

[[category:medicine]]

[[category:sham peer review]]