Calif. budget cuts keep M.D.s from work

SACRAMENTO, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- State-ordered furloughs ordered at the California state medical board have resulted in a logjam of physician license applications, physicians say.

The California Medical Association has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court seeking to end state-ordered furloughs -- caused by the state budget crisis. The suit says the furloughs have delayed the processing of applicants for medical licenses.

The lawsuit calls for the furloughs -- which subject staff to three furlough days a month -- to be halted immediately because the loss of 5,100 work hours monthly has kept doctors from working for months.

For example, Dr. Laura Howard, an ophthalmologist, applied for her medical license in May and was to have started work in Hanford, Calif., but she has not received her medical license as of mid-October.

"Had my application been approved, I would not only be practicing already, but also generating income," Howard said in a statement.

Barbara Yaroslavsky, president of the medical board, wrote in the agency's October newsletter the board is seeking eight more staff members to address the backlog.

"We are acutely aware of the problems that delays cause and are doing all that we can to address this complicated issue," Yaroslavsky wrote.