Patients’ Right to Know Act passes IL Assembly

Patients would have access to detailed histories of Illinois doctors ? including whether the physician has been fired, convicted of a crime or made a medical malpractice payment in the past five years ? under legislation headed to the governor's desk. After being thwarted by the doctors' lobby for more than a decade, the Patients' Right to Know Act passed out of the General Assembly as a stand-alone bill Tuesday for the first time, with supporters crediting a Tribune series showing that sex-offending physicians, even those convicted of crimes, have continued to practice. The bill passed unopposed in the House and Senate. Gov. Pat Quinn signaled he would sign it.