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

ALABAMA

1999 serious action rate: 4.71/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 13th

In Alabama, there were disciplinary actions reported against 220 doctors including 9 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 11 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 2 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 5 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 7 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 Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners sent newsletters covering the period from September 1990 through December 1999. These reports include the physician's name, degree, city and state of residence, the date and type of action taken, and a brief description of the reason for the action. The reports also contain information on modifications and terminations of board actions, and Alabama 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 Alabama or that match a physician disciplined by Alabama are also included.

Alabama Board Internet address: http://www.albme.org

This state has a web site which we have graded F 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, Alabama took 45 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 9,559 MDs licensed in the state, Alabama had a serious disciplinary action rate of 4.71 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and ranked 13th on that list of states (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	38	10.4%
Surrender	46	12.6%
Suspension	16	4.4%
Probation	47	12.8%
Practice Restriction	30	8.2%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	37	10.1%
Other Actions	152	41.5%
Total Actions	366	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	9	6.4%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	2	1.4%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	5	3.5%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	11	7.8%
Substance Abuse	10	7.1%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	44	31.2%
Other Offenses	60	42.6%
Total Records With Offense Listed	141	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 Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Surrender	4	28.6%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	6	42.9%
Probation	1	7.1%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	1	7.1%
Fine	2	14.3%
Total Actions	14	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	1	5.9%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	1	5.9%
Emergency Suspension	1	5.9%
Probation	1	5.9%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	1	5.9%
Other Actions	12	70.6%
Total Actions	17	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
Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners
Larry D. Dixon, Executive Director
PO Box 946
Montgomery, AL 36101-0946
(334) 242-4116
Fax: (334) 242-4155
Internet address: http://www.albme.org