Public Citizen's Health Research Group: Questionable Doctors: Nebraska

NEBRASKA

1999 serious action rate: 1.23/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 50th

In Nebraska, there were disciplinary actions reported against 89 doctors including 16 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 10 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 3 who were convicted of a crime.

This web site provides aggregate national and state data on doctor discipline. Names of those doctors and their offenses are NOT included on the site. Web sites with such information need to be frequently updated and we cannot do this because of limited staff and resources available to continually monitor the information that we receive from the 51 MD and 14 DO licensing boards and the federal government. This website does provide direct links to the web sites of those boards that have information available on the internet.

Detailed information on specific doctors who have been disciplined is included in the book which can be purchased in regional editions for $20. The book includes disciplinary actions taken against doctors from 1990 through December 1999.

The Nebraska Bureau of Examining Boards sent lists of all doctors disciplined from 1990 through 1999. The lists include the physician's name and degree, and the date and type of action taken. The lists contain information on modifications or terminations of board orders but not on court decisions affecting board actions. Nebraska stated that court decisions would be included in the information we received.

The information provided covers disciplinary actions taken against allopathic physicians (MDs) and osteopathic physicians (DOs).

Besides disciplinary actions taken by the State Medical Board, this listing also includes actions taken by the Medicare/Medicaid programs, the FDA, and the DEA against physicians located in this state. Disciplinary actions taken by other states against physicians located in Nebraska or that match a physician disciplined by Nebraska are also included.

Nebraska Board Internet Address: http://www.hhs.state.ne.us

This state has a web site which we have graded D on a scale of A (best) to X (worst) as part of our February 2000 Survey of Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Medical Board Web Sites. This grade is a measure of the completeness of the information on disciplined doctors. Those state licensing boards with web sites make independent choices about the type of information to be included on their site and how often it is updated.

According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, Nebraska took 5 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 4,070 MDs licensed in the state, Nebraska had a serious disciplinary action rate of 1.23 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 50th on that list (see Table A).

The tables below summarize the data Public Citizen received from Nebraska.

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	15	13.2%
Surrender	3	2.6%
Suspension	10	8.8%
Probation	36	31.6%
Practice Restriction	21	18.4%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	4	3.5%
Other Actions	25	21.9%
Total Actions	114	100.0%

* This table lists only the two most serious disciplinary actions taken against a physician.
** Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.

Table 2. Offenses for which MDs and DOs were Disciplined 1990 through 1999*
Offense	Number	Percent
Criminal Conviction	3	4.1%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	0	0.0%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	10	13.5%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	0	0.0%
Substance Abuse	16	21.6%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	21	28.4%
Other Offenses	24	32.4%
Total Records With Offense Listed	74	100.0%

* Includes only those actions for which an offense was listed and for which we had a corresponding term in our database.

Table 3. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Probation	5	38.5%
Practice Restriction	4	30.8%
Fine	2	15.4%
Reprimand	2	15.4%
Total Actions	13	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	3	14.3%
Revocation, Surrender or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	2	9.5%
Suspension	2	9.5%
Probation	10	47.6%
Fine	3	14.3%
Other Actions	1	4.8%
Total Actions	21	100.0%

If you feel that your doctor has not given you proper medical care or has mistreated you in any way--whether or not he or she is listed in this report--it is important that you let your state medical board know. Even if they do not immediately act on your complaint, it is important that the information be recorded in their files because it is possible that other people may have filed or will file complaints about the same doctor. Send a brief written description of what occurred to the addresses below or call the phone numbers listed for more information on how to file a complaint.

Address
Nebraska Health Department
Katherine A. Brown, Section Administrator
PO Box 94986
Lincoln, NE 68509-4986
(402) 471-2118

Internet Address: http://www.hhs.state.ne.us