Many people have claimed that the Medical Board of California has struggled to hold problem doctors accountable for a rash of patient drug overdoses in California, and the board is now facing legislation that would strip it of some of its powers.

Proposed state legislation that was amended Thursday would do away with the medical board's ability to investigate physician misconduct, instead granting that power to the attorney general of California.

"I've heard repeated stories of difficulty in sanctioning physicians. It's cumbersome and takes a long period of time," said Sen. Curren Price (D-Los Angeles), who co-authored the proposal with Assemblyman Richard Gordon (D-Menlo Park). "I don't want anybody else to die."

Price and Gordon have been at odds with the medical board for some time, even threatening to dissolve it in a letter they sent the board last month. They urged that the board to "be more responsive" and "show significant progress."

Gordon believes a change in investigative power "would provide far greater assurance to the public that the medical profession is being regulated in California," says Gordon. "The way it is now, you could almost look at it and ask: Is this a situation of the fox guarding the henhouse? Some say they're too cozy."

An emotional hearing was held in March that was part of a review for the renewal of the medical board's legislative power. Many family members of people now dead from physician-prescribed drug overdoses took the stand, imploring for there to be a change in the system.

The medical board has since responded to Price, Gordon and the victim's family members by reassuring everyone that they would do everything they could to rectify the situation. It appears that the damage was already done, however, and a massive overhaul of the medical system in California may soon be underway.