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

MICHIGAN

1999 serious action rate: 4.21/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 19th

In MIchigan, there were disciplinary actions reported against 733 doctors including 46 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 1 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 181 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 90 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 Michigan Bureau of Health Services generates weekly sheets and monthly newsletters that list disciplinary actions against health care professionals, and both publications are widely distributed. The Bureau sent lists of all administrative complaints against MDs and DOs from January 1990 through October 1990. These lists include the physician's name, degree, license number, date and type of action taken, and disposition of the complaint. The lists do not include license reinstatements, terminations of suspensions, probations, and restrictions or the results of judicial appeals. The Bureau also sent copies of its weekly disciplinary action reports covering the period from 1990 through 1999. These reports include the physician's name, license number, date of birth, address, the date and type of action taken, and a very brief description of the reason for the action. The reports contain information on modifications and terminations of board actions and some information 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 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 Michigan or that match a physician disciplined by Michigan are also included.

Michigan Board Internet Address: http://www.cis.state.mi.us.bhser

This state has a web site which we have graded C 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 Michigan took 101 serious disciplinary actions against MDs in 1999. Compared to the 24,001 MDs in the state, the Medical Board had a serious disciplinary action rate of 4.21 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and ranked 19th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	90	6.7%
Surrender	36	2.7%
Suspension	207	15.4%
Probation	316	23.6%
Practice Restriction	85	6.3%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	18	1.3%
Other Actions	589	43.9%
Total Actions	1341	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	121	15.3%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	0	0.0%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	193	24.5%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	1	0.1%
Substance Abuse	50	6.3%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	87	11.0%
Other Offenses	337	42.7%
Total Records With Offense Listed	789	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 Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	13	4.4%
Surrender	4	1.3%
Suspension	54	18.1%
Emergency Suspension	12	4.0%
Probation	58	19.5%
Practice Restriction	21	7.0%
Fine	98	32.9%
Reprimand	33	11.1%
Other Actions	5	1.7%
Total Actions	298	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	29	17.5%
Surrender	1	0.6%
Suspension	35	21.1%
Emergency Suspension	34	20.5%
Probation	20	12.0%
Fine	39	23.5%
Other Actions	8	4.8%
Total Actions	166	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	3	4.4%
Suspension	10	14.7%
Emergency Suspension	10	14.7%
Probation	23	33.8%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	2	2.9%
Fine	6	8.8%
Other Actions	14	20.6%
Total Actions	68	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

Michigan Board of Medicine
Mary MacDowell, Licensure Director
PO Box 30670
Lansing, MI 48909-7518
(517) 373-6873

Internet Address: http://www.cis.state.mi.us.bhser

Michigan Board of Osteopathic Medicine & Surgery
Robert D. Ulieru, Licensing Executive
PO Box 30670
Lansing, MI 48909-7518
(517) 373-6873