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

HAWAII

1999 serious action rate: 1.61/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 47th

In Hawaii, there were disciplinary actions reported against 94 doctors including 4 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 1 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 3 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 5 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 5 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 Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs provided board orders for 1990 through 1999. These give the physician's name, degree, license number, date and type of action taken, and reason for the action in some cases. The orders contain information on modifications and terminations of board actions. Most of the orders are settlement agreements between the doctor and the board prior to a final disciplinary action being taken. Hawaii also occasionally noted court appeals of the Board's decision in the information sent, but was unable to provide additional information. Many of the doctors disciplined were not residents of Hawaii but were first disciplined by other states.

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 Hawaii or that match a physician disciplined by Hawaii are also included.

As of this date, this state does not currently have a website

You may wish to review our February 2000 Survey of Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Medical Board Web Sites.

According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, Hawaii took 6 serious disciplinary actions against MDs in 1999. Compared to the 3,555 MDs licensed in the state, the Hawaii Medical Board had a serious disciplinary action rate of 1.69 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and ranked 47th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs July 1990 through December 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	24	20.2%
Surrender	5	4.2%
Suspension	8	6.7%
Probation	9	7.6%
Practice Restriction	11	9.2%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	2	1.7%
Other Actions	60	50.4%
Total Actions	119	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 July 1990 through December 1999*
Offense	Number	Percent
Criminal Conviction	5	7.2%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	4	5.8%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	5	7.2%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	1	1.4%
Substance Abuse	4	5.8%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	35	50.7%
Other Offenses	15	21.7%
Total Records With Offense Listed	69	100%

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

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

Hawaii Board of Medical Examiners
Constance Cabral-Makanani, Executive Director
Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
PO Box 3469
Honolulu, HI 96801
(808) 586-2708