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

KENTUCKY

1999 serious action rate: 5.92/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 6th

In Kentucky, there were disciplinary actions reported against 329 doctors including 2 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 1 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 2 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 12 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 Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure publishes monthly disciplinary action reports, and it is required to respond to all requests for information within three days. The Board sent copies of its monthly disciplinary action reports from 1990 through 1999. These reports contain the physician's name, degree, date of birth, license number, county of residence, the date and type of action taken, and sometimes, a brief summary of the reason for the action. The reports contain information on modifications and terminations of board orders, and on court decisions affecting board actions.

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

BS00024A.gif (1893 bytes) Kentucky Board Internet Address: http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/kbml

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, Kentucky took 54 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 9,115 MDs in the state, Kentucky had a serious disciplinary action rate of 5.92 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and ranked 6th on that list (see Table A).

The tables below summarize the data Public Citizen received from Kentucky

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	42	7.1%
Surrender	45	7.6%
Suspension	55	9.2%
Probation	171	28.7%
Practice Restriction	50	8.4%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	75	12.6%
Other Actions	157	26.4%
Total Actions	595	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	12	9.9%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	0	0.0%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	2	1.7%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	1	0.8%
Substance Abuse	3	2.5%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	41	33.9%
Other Offenses	62	51.2%
Total Records With Offense Listed	121	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 Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	4	28.6%
Surrender	4	28.6%
Suspension	1	7.1%
Probation	2	14.3%
Fine	2	13.3%
Other Action	1	7.1%
Total Actions	14	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
Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
C. William Schmidt, Executive Director
Hurstbourne Office Park
310 Whittington Parkway, Suite 1B
Louisville, KY 40222
(502) 429-8046

Internet Address: http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/kbml