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June 5, 2002

Public Citizen Releases Database With Names of 6,700 " Questionable Doctors "

in 12 States - Most Still Practicing

Consumers Can Search Online for Their Doctor

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen today released

new information on approximately 6,700 physicians who have been disciplined

by medical and osteopathic boards in 12 states and by other agencies for

incompetence, misprescribing drugs, sexual misconduct, criminal convictions,

ethical lapses and other offenses. Most of the doctors were not required to

stop practicing, even temporarily.

The states are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine,

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

Public Citizen has been publishing national and regional editions of the

Questionable Doctors database in book form for more than a decade. But today

marks the database's debut on the World Wide Web. The web site is

www.questionabledoctors.org. Consumers will be able to search the list of

disciplined doctors for free. For $10, they can view and print detailed

disciplinary reports on up to 10 physicians within a three-month period in

any of the states listed.

As part of the launch, Public Citizen is also publishing a California/Hawaii

edition of Questionable Doctors in book form. Public Citizen will add other

states to the online database and possibly publish more books throughout the

year.

Examples of doctors who were disciplined but are currently allowed to

continue practicing include:

· A California doctor who was convicted of battery after attacking his

billing clerk and office partner;

· A New Hampshire doctor who delayed a Caesarean section, causing a baby to

be born in a vegetative state and eventually die;

· A Massachusetts doctor who allowed a drug company representative to be

present at a patient examination, telling the patient the observer was a

" preceptor " ;

· An Indiana doctor who engaged in sexual misconduct with students ranging

in age from 14 to 17; and,

· An Illinois doctor who twice perforated a uterus during two separate

elective abortions.

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

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

Wolfe, M.D., director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. " Choosing a

doctor is one of the most critical decisions a consumer will make, but

unfortunately, finding good, reliable information about physicians has been

exceedingly difficult. We believe that to make the right choices about

health care, consumers need to know whether their doctor has been

disciplined for any offense and the details of the offense. "

The majority of doctors disciplined for the five most serious offenses -

sexual abuse or sexual misconduct; substandard care, incompetence or

negligence; criminal conviction; misprescribing or overprescribing drugs;

and substance abuse - were not required to stop practicing even temporarily.

Therefore it is likely they are still practicing and that their patients are

unaware of their offenses.

" All too often, state medical boards are more concerned about protecting the

reputations of doctors than doing their job, which is to protect

unsuspecting patients from doctors who may be incompetent or negligent, "

Wolfe said.

The Public Citizen online database lists doctors disciplined from 1992

through 2001. Information comes from all 50 state medical boards, the

District of Columbia, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the

Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration.

Previously listed physicians sanctioned in 1990 and 1991 were removed.

Using the information from the state and federal agencies, Public Citizen

created a database containing the doctor's name, degree, license number,

date of birth, location, the disciplinary state or agency, the date of the

disciplinary action, the nature of the discipline and available information

about the case. Public Citizen asked all the state medical boards to provide

information about court actions that may have overruled or changed previous

disciplinary actions. Any disciplinary actions that were overturned by

courts or for which litigation ended in the doctor's favor were deleted from

the database.

Public Citizen has long sought greater consumer access to information about

doctors, and there have been recent improvements in making that information

available. Most state medical boards now provide some physician discipline

information on the Internet, but the information about disciplinary actions

varies greatly, is often inadequate and can be difficult for people to

access.

Information about doctor discipline, including state sanctions, hospital

disciplinary actions and medical malpractice awards is now contained in the

National Practitioner Data Bank, but that database is kept secret from the

public.

" HMOs, hospitals and medical boards can look at the National Practitioner

Data Bank, but consumers cannot, " Wolfe said. " It is time we lifted the veil

of secrecy surrounding doctors and allowed the people who have the most to

lose from questionable doctors to get the information they need to protect

themselves and their families. But until Congress finds the will to open up

this information, Public Citizen will provide the public with as much of the

data as we can obtain. "

Public Citizen also has published a ranking of state medical boards, based

on the number of serious disciplinary actions (license revocations,

surrenders, suspensions and probation/restrictions) per 1,000 doctors in

each state. In 2001, nationally there were 3.36 serious actions taken for

every 1,000 physicians. The state rankings are available in the web at:

http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7166

" Nationwide, an extremely tiny fraction of doctors face disciplinary

action, " Wolfe said. " States need to start doing a better job of protecting

the public. "

Public Citizen recommends that states promptly make public all of their

board disciplinary actions, malpractice payouts and hospital disciplinary

actions; strengthen medical practice statutes; restructure their medical

boards to sever any links with state medical societies; and increase funding

and staffing for medical boards.

CONSUMER INFORMATION: Consumers will be able to search for names of

disciplined doctors in the online database for free. For a $10

subscription, they can obtain detailed disciplinary reports on up to 10

physicians in any of the states listed over a three-month period. States

available as of June 5 are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois,

Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island

and Vermont. Additional states will be added as the information becomes

available. To order on the Internet, go to www.questionabledoctors.org.

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