Thousands of people lined up last week for free medical treatment at the Forum in Inglewood. The arena floor resembled a vast healthcare assembly line as hundreds of patients at a time were seen by dozens of doctors, dentists and optometrists.
But many others had to be turned away because of a shortage of medical professionals willing to volunteer their time and expertise.
Stan Brock, founder of Remote Area Medical, the nonprofit group that organized the Forum mega-clinic, was clearly frustrated by being unable to match the overwhelming demand for healthcare with a sufficient supply of caregivers.
If local doctors aren't willing to donate their time -- a big enough problem on its own -- why can't physicians from other states come here to do pro bono work?
"The greatest impediment that we face in giving this type of care -- free care -- is that for some extraordinary reason that I've never been able to understand, a doctor, dentist or nurse licensed and trained in one state is not allowed to take that license and cross into other states to provide free care for needy and underserved Americans," he said.
Lisa Robin, senior vice president of the Federation of State Medical Boards, which represents licensing agencies nationwide, said the reason for this is simple: States need to ensure that certain standards of medical competence are met.
"You want to be sure people have the qualifications necessary to protect patients," she said. "You don't want different standards of care."
Candis Cohen, a spokeswoman for the Medical Board of California, was even more emphatic.
"We don't know how well someone may have been trained in Texas or Alaska or somewhere else," she said. "We have our own standards. They're quite high."
She said California does issue temporary licenses to "eminent physicians" from other states or countries who may be spending time at a teaching hospital or have a similar reason to practice medicine here.
But this is a formal bureaucratic process and wouldn't apply to doctors who simply want to show up for a week or two and volunteer their time.
So if it's difficult if not impossible for out-of-state medical professionals to parachute in for events such as the one at the Forum, what can be done to get more local healthcare providers to participate?
I have two ideas.
First, passage of a good Samaritan law at the state or federal level shielding caregivers from legal liability for any volunteer activities.
