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

FLORIDA

1999 serious action rate: 2.49/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 38th

In Florida, there were disciplinary actions reported against 1429 doctors including 4 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 57 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 44 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 626 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 87 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 Florida Department of Professional Regulation sent copies of Medical Board newsletters covering disciplinary actions from January 1990 through June 1999. The listings include the physician's name, degree, license number, city and state of residence, the date and type of action taken and a general description of the charges which were the reason for the action. There was some information on modifications, terminations and court decisions affecting board actions. The board sent copies of orders for January 1997 through April 1997 which contained additional information.

The Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine sent copies of newsletters covering disciplinary actions from 1990 through 1999. The listings include the physician's name, degree, license number, city and state of residence, the date and type of action taken and in some cases a general description of the charges for which the action was taken. These also include some information on modifications and terminations but none on court decisions affecting board actions.

Public Citizen also obtained information spanning the period from October 1991 through December 1999 from the Internet at the address listed below. This information provides the doctor's name, degree, license number, city and state of residence, the date and type of action taken and a general description of the charges. It also includes information on modifications and terminations of board orders, as well as court decisions affecting board orders. In some cases, there were minor discrepancies in the information provided in board newsletters and that which was listed on the Internet. In these instances, the Internet information was used.

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

Besides disciplinary actions taken by the State Medical Boards, 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 Florida or that match a physician disciplined by Florida are also included.

Florida Board Internet Address: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/

This state has a web site which we have graded B 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, the Florida Board of Medicine took 105 serious disciplinary actions against MDs in 1999. Compared to the 42,169 MDs licensed in the state, Florida had a serious disciplinary action rate of 2.49 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 38th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	97	3.5%
Surrender	142	5.2%
Suspension	236	8.6%
Probation	396	14.4%
Practice Restriction	77	2.8%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	29	1.1%
Other Actions	1769	64.4%
Total Actions	2746	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	95	6.3%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	49	3.2%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	662	43.7%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	59	3.9%
Substance Abuse	4	0.3%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	175	11.6%
Other Offenses	470	31.0%
Total Records With Offense Listed	1514	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 Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	5	6.2%
Surrender	4	4.9%
Suspension	17	21.0%
Emergency Suspension	5	6.2%
Probation	24	29.6%
Fine	18	22.2%
Other Actions	8	9.9%
Total Actions	81	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	14	1.2%
Surrender	51	4.3%
Suspension	38	3.2%
Emergency Suspension	16	1.3%
Probation	180	15.2%
Practice Restriction	40	3.4%
Fine	520	43.8%
Reprimand	62	5.2%
Other Actions	265	22.3%
Total Actions	1186	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	16	11.0%
Surrender	8	5.5%
Suspension	27	18.5%
Emergency Suspension	15	10.3%
Probation	36	24.7%
Fine	35	24.0%
Other Actions	9	6.2%
Total Actions	146	100.0%

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	1	1.0%
Surrender	3	2.9%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	2	1.9%
Suspension	9	8.7%
Emergency Suspension	4	3.9%
Probation	25	24.3%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	3	2.9%
Fine	40	38.8%
Education	7	6.8%
Other Actions	9	8.7%
Total Actions	103	100.0%

Addresses

Florida Department of Health, Board of Medicine
Gloria Crawford Henderson, Division Director
4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin #CO3
Tallahassee, FL 32399-3253
(850) 488-0595
Internet Address: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/

Florida Department of Health
Attn: Board of Osteopathic Medicine
4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin # CO6
Tallahassee, FL 32399-3256
(850) 488-0595