[jamesfly]

Thank you. Here [1] is the source for one, which states "An arbitration award is a payment for damages and does not necessarily reflect that the physician's medical competence is below the standard of care. The Medical Board reviews all such reported arbitration awards and action is taken only if it is determined that a violation of the Medical Practice Act occurred. The Medical Board is prohibited by law from releasing a copy of the arbitration award report or any other information concerning the award." I am still unsure if that means the award was in the doctor's or patient's favor, and because the report is secret, it may not be possible to find out, but please let me know if you know how I could find out.

I also want to mention that patients are forced into arbitration via the contract for service they initially sign [2] that many don't read (whether due their inability to understand it or time constraints on needing immediate care and limited availability of doctors). However, I think it's a shady practice that hurts patients [3] and it would be worth keeping the data showing doctors taking advantage of it regardless. The main excerpt from the article supporting my thoughts is "Doctors’ attorneys are more likely to develop relationships with the arbitrators, they say, who, in turn, may give the plaintiff only a token award to get continued business from doctors."

[1] https://search.dca.ca.gov/details/8002/G/77959/9df8d122bd5b5...

[2] https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2007/ccp/1295.html

[3] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-24-he-22804...