Group Posts Disciplined Doctor Data on Internet

[Guest guest]

Group Posts Disciplined Doctor Data on Internet

Thu Jun 6, 5:37 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The consumer organization Public Citizen said

Wednesday that for the first time, a portion of its database of physicians

who have been disciplined by state medical boards or other agencies, or

convicted of crimes, will be available on the Internet.

Public Citizen has published its Questionable Doctors list in book form

since the late 1990s, and has periodically updated the book. Now, it is

putting information on 6,700 physicians in 12 states onto a new Web site,

which consumers can easily and quickly access. The states include

California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts,

Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Free of charge, they can search to see if their physician's name is on the

list. If a consumer wants a detailed report of all the actions taken against

a doctor, they pay $10 and receive up to 10 reports in 3 months.

The online database lists physicians who were disciplined from 1992 through

2001. Information comes from medical boards in all 50 states and the

District of Columbia, and also includes whether a doctor has been excluded

from participating in Medicare, or whose licenses to prescribed controlled

substances were revoked, restricted or denied by the Drug Enforcement

Administration.

The reports also state whether a physician has been sanctioned for not

following US Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) rules.

Consumers can find out from a state medical board if a physician has had his

or her license revoked or has been disciplined by that state for free. But

that information would not include disciplinary actions taken by a federal

agency or by states where a doctor may previously have practiced.

Public Citizen said that many physicians who have acted unethically or

illegally escape punishment by moving from state-to-state. And, the group

said, many doctors are still allowed to practice despite being disciplined

for egregious acts.

" For many of the most serious offenses by doctors, the disciplinary actions

imposed by state medical boards have been dangerously lenient, " said Sidney

Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, in a statement.

" We believe that to make the right choices about healthcare, consumers need

to know whether their doctor has been disciplined for any offense and the

details of the offense, " he said.

The group plans to keep adding states to the online database. In July,

information on physicians practicing in Texas will be made available.

For more information visit www.citizen.org.

[Guest guest]

Hi a,

Thanks

This list of " disciplined " doctors is already available via the Internet for

Arizona. I think it is great and about time someone is watching what these

doctors are doing.I printed out the list and have found a few right here in

town who have been cited and fined, one for inappropriate touching!!! Maybe

we should all try to find our own doctors this way.

Joanne