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

MARYLAND

1999 serious action rate: 2.42/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 40th

In Maryland, there were disciplinary actions reported against 491 doctors including 12 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 31 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 33 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 115 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 50 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 Maryland Board of Physician Quality Assurance (previously the Maryland Commission on Medical Discipline) provided a list of disciplined physicians that includes all public actions for 1990. This list includes the physician's name, license number, and the date and type of action taken. The Board sent disciplinary orders from February 1990 through June 1994 and listings of these orders from July 1994 through December 1999. The orders and the lists include the physician's name, degree, license number, the date and type of action taken, and the reason for the action. The lists contain information on modifications and terminations of board actions but not on court decisions affecting board actions. Maryland sent separate information on these actions. In addition, the disciplinary orders include the physician's birthdate.

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

Besides disciplinary actions taken by the state 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 Maryland or that match a physician disciplined by Maryland are also included.

Maryland Board Internet Address: http://www.docboard.org/md/default.htm

This state has a web site which we have graded A 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, Maryland took 51 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 21,116 MDs licensed in the state, Maryland had a serious disciplinary action rate of 2.42 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 40th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	62	7.7%
Surrender	77	9.6%
Suspension	90	11.2%
Probation	205	25.5%
Practice Restriction	30	3.7%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	14	1.7%
Other Actions	325	40.5%
Total Actions	803	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	65	11.8%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	39	7.1%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	120	21.8%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	34	6.2%
Substance Abuse	13	2.4%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	102	18.5%
Other Offenses	178	32.3%
Total Records With Offense Listed	551	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	4	7.1%
Surrender	8	14.3%
Suspension	12	21.4%
Emergency Suspension	5	8.9%
Probation	15	26.8%
Fine	2	3.6%
Other Actions	10	17.9%
Total Actions	56	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	1.2%
Surrender	10	6.0%
Suspension	26	15.7%
Emergency Suspension	3	1.8%
Probation	60	36.1%
Practice Restriction	9	5.4%
Fine	3	1.8%
Reprimand	37	22.3%
Other Actions	16	9.6%
Total Actions	166	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	33	42.3%
Surrender	6	7.7%
Suspension	14	17.9%
Emergency Suspension	2	2.6%
Probation	8	10.3%
Other Actions	15	19.2%
Total Actions	78	100.0%

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	4.3%
Surrender	5	10.6%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	3	6.4%
Suspension	2	4.3%
Emergency Suspension	7	14.9%
Probation	15	31.9%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	4	8.5%
Fine	1	2.1%
Education	3	6.4%
Other Actions	5	10.6%
Total Action	47	100.0%

Table 7. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Surrender	5	29.4%
Suspension	1	5.9%
Emergency Suspension	1	5.9%
Probation	5	29.4%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	1	5.9%
Other Actions	4	23.5%
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.

Addresses
Maryland Board of Physician Quality Assurance
4201 Patterson Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21215-0095
(410) 764-4777
(800) 492-6836
Fax: (410) 358-2252
E-mail: BPQA@EROLS.com

Internet Address: http://www.docboard.org/md/default.htm