nationalcover.gif (12529 bytes)NEW JERSEY

 

1999 serious action rate: 3.13/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 28th


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In New Jersey, there were disciplinary actions reported against 897 doctors including 55 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 73 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 14 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 67 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 48 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 New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners provided monthly lists of disciplinary actions published from 1990 through 1999. The listings include the physician's name, degree, license number, birthdate, address, the date and type of action taken, and the reason for the action. The listings contain information on modifications and terminations of board actions and, in some cases, some minimal 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 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 New Jersey or that match a physician disciplined by New Jersey are also included.

BS00024A.gif (1893 bytes) New Jersey Board Internet Address: http://www.state.nj.us/lps/ca/medical.htm

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. The internet address for the Osteopathic Board is http://www.doh.wa.gov/SBOH .  We did not rate osteopathic boards in our survey. 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, New Jersey took 89 disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 28,432 MDs in the state, New Jersey had a serious disciplinary action rate of 3.13 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 28th on that list (see Table A).

The tables below summarize the data Public Citizen received from New Jersey.

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*

Action

Number Percent**

Revocation

106 7.2%

Surrender

170 11.5%

Suspension

159 10.8%

Probation

177 12.0%

Practice Restriction

131 8.9%

Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License

47 3.2%

Other Actions

682 46.3%

Total Actions

1472 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

49

6.0%

Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient

16

2.0%

Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence

72

8.8%

Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs

78

9.5%

Substance Abuse

64

7.8%

Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency

253

30.9%

Other Offenses

286

35.0%

Total Records With Offense Listed

818

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

Surrender

2

8.0%

Suspension

5

20.0%

Emergency Suspension

1

4.0%

Probation

3

12.0%

Fine

5

20.0%

Other Actions

9

36.0%

Total Actions

25

100.0%

 

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence

Action

Number

Percent

Revocation

12

10.6%

Surrender

5

4.4%

Suspension

9

8.0%

Emergency Suspension

5

4.4%

Probation

12

10.6%

Practice Restriction

11

9.7%

Fine

23

20.4%

Reprimand

24

21.2%

Other Actions

12

10.6%

Total Actions

113

100.0%

 

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction

Action

Number

Percent

Revocation

15

21.7%

Surrender

7

10.1%

Suspension

13

18.8%

Emergency Suspension

1

1.4%

Probation

13

18.8%

Fine

10

14.5%

Other Actions

10

14.5%

Total Actions

69

100.0%

 

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs

Action

Number

Percent

Revocation

5

3.8%

Surrender

7

5.3%

Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License

4

3.0%

Suspension

6

4.5%

Emergency Suspension

6

4.5%

Probation

11

8.3%

Restriction of Controlled Substance License

9

6.8%

Fine

33

25.0%

Education

10

7.6%

Other Actions

41

31.1%

Total Actions

132

100.0%

 

Table 7. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse

Action

Number

Percent

Revocation

2

2.5%

Surrender

29

35.8%

Suspension

10

12.3%

Emergency Suspension

2

2.5%

Probation

6

7.4%

Required to Enter an Impaired Physician Program or Substance Abuse Treatment

2

2.5%

Other Actions

30

37.0%

Total Actions

81

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
New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners
Mr. William Roeder, Executive Director
P.O. Box 183
Trenton, NJ 08625-0183
(609) 826-7100

Internet Address: http://www.state.nj.us/lps/ca/medical.htm