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

NEVADA

1999 serious action rate: 3.26/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 25th

In Nevada, there were disciplinary actions reported against 105 doctors including 2 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 7 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 12 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 10 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 Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners sent copies of newsletters containing all disciplinary actions from 1990 through 1999. The listings include the physician's name, degree, the type of action taken and the reason for the action. In early newsletters, the actual action date was not provided. The date of the newsletter was entered as a proxy. The newsletters contain some information on modifications and terminations of board actions and no information on court decisions affecting board actions. Nevada sent separate information on these actions.

The information provided covers disciplinary actions taken against allopathic physicians (MDs) only. Nevada's separate osteopathic board has taken no actions since 1996.

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

Nevada Board Internet Address: http://www.state.nv.us/medical

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, Nevada took 11 serious disciplinary actions against MDs in 1999. Compared to the 3,373 MDs practicing in the state, Nevada had a serious disciplinary action rate of 3.26 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 25th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	25	16.6%
Surrender	11	7.3%
Suspension	2	1.3%
Probation	22	14.6%
Practice Restriction	10	6.6%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	5	3.3%
Other Actions	76	50.3%
Total Actions	151	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 were Disciplined 1990 through 1999*
Offense	Number	Percent
Criminal Conviction	10	9.5%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	0	0.0%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	13	12.4%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	8	7.6%
Substance Abuse	3	2.9%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	31	29.5%
Other Offenses	40	38.1%
Total Records With Offense Listed	105	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	5	31.3%
Emergency Suspension	3	18.8%
Probation	2	12.5%
Practice Restriction	2	12.5%
Fine	1	6.3%
Reprimand	2	12.5%
Other Actions	1	6.3%
Total Actions	16	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	3	21.4%
Probation	2	14.3%
Fine	2	14.3%
Other Actions	7	50.0%
Total Actions	14	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Surrender	1	7.1%
Emergency Suspension	1	7.1%
Probation	4	28.6%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	4	28.6%
Fine	1	7.1%
Education	1	7.1%
Other Actions	2	14.3%
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.

Addresses
Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners
Larry D. Lessly, JD, Executive Director
P.O. Box 7238
Reno, NV 89510
(775) 688-2559
Fax: (775) 688-2321
E-mail: nsbme@govmail.state.nv.us
Internet Address: http://www.state.nv.us/medical

Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine
Larry J. Tarno, DO, Executive Director
2950 East Flamingo Road, Suite E-3
Las Vegas, NV 89121-5208
(702) 732-2147