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

MISSOURI

1999 serious action rate: 2.96/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 31st

In Missouri, there were disciplinary actions reported against 528 doctors including 21 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 40 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 7 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 56 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 54 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 Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts sent copies of the lists of all public disciplinary actions taken from January 1990 through August 1994. The lists contain the physician's name, degree, city and state of residence, the date and type of action taken, and the section of Missouri law violated. Beginning November 1990 the lists also provide more details on the reason for the action. From March 1991 through December 1999, the Board also began sending copies of its newsletter, "Healing Arts News," which includes the same kind of disciplinary information as provided in the lists. The newsletters contain some information on modifications or terminations of board actions and on court decisions affecting board actions. For the last half of 1999 Missouri sent board orders which contained additional information.

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

Missouri Board Internet Address: www.ecodev.state.mo.us/pr/healarts/

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, Missouri took 45 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 15,211 MDs in the state, Missouri had a serious disciplinary action rate of 2.96 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 31st on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	131	20.8%
Surrender	41	6.5%
Suspension	46	7.3%
Probation	201	31.9%
Practice Restriction	23	3.7%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	18	2.9%
Other Actions	170	27.0%
Total Actions	630	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	56	10.6%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	7	1.3%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	56	10.6%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	40	7.6%
Substance Abuse	23	4.4%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	187	35.4%
Other Offenses	159	30.1%
Total Records With Offense Listed	528	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	2	18.2%
Surrender	1	9.1%
Suspension	2	18.2%
Probation	4	18.2%
Other Actions	2	18.2%
Total Actions	11	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinay Actions Taken for Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	12	19.0%
Surrender	1	1.6%
Suspension	5	7.9%
Probation	16	25.4%
Practice Restriction	3	4.8%
Reprimand	20	31.7%
Other Actions	6	9.5%
Total Actions	63	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	44	72.1%
Surrender	1	1.6%
Probation	10	16.4%
Other Actions	6	9.8%
Total Actions	61	100.0%

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Surrender	1	2.0%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	2	4.0%
Suspension	6	12.0%
Probation	28	56.0%
Restriction of Controlled Substances License	2	4.0%
Education	1	2.0%
Other Actions	10	20.0%
Total Actions	50	100.0%

Table 7. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	7.1%
Surrender	4	14.3%
Suspension	4	14.3%
Probation	16	57.1%
Other Actions	2	7.1%
Total Actions	28	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
Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts
Tina M. Steinman, Executive Director
PO Box 4
Jefferson City, MO 65102
(573) 751-4447

Internet Address: www.ecodev.state.mo.us/pr/healarts/