Public Citizen's Health Research Group: Questionable Doctors: New Mexico

NEW MEXICO

1999 serious action rate: 3.14/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 27th

In New Mexico, there were disciplinary actions reported against 168 doctors including 38 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 7 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 3 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 6 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 Mexico Board of Medical Examiners provided a list of actions for 1990 through 1999. The list includes the physician's name, degree, the type of action taken, and sometimes a brief description of the reason for the action. The listing contains information on modifications and terminations of board actions but not on court decisions affecting board actions.Nebraska stated that court decisions would be included in the information we received. New Mexico stated that court decisions would be included in the information we received. In some cases, New Mexico did not list a date in their newsletters, in which case we used the first day of the year.

The New Mexico Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners provided a list of actions from 1990 through 1999. The list includes the physician's name, degree, license number, the date and type of action taken and a brief description of the reason for the action. The listing contains information on modifications and terminations of board actions but not on court decisions affecting board actions. New Mexico stated that court decisions would be included in the information we received. 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. Actions taken by other states against physicians located in New Mexico or that match a physician disciplined by New Mexico are also included.

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This state does not have a web site. You may want to review our February 2000 Survey of Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Medical Board Web Sites.

According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, New Mexico took 13 serious disciplinary actions against MDs in 1999. Compared to the 4,138 MDs licensed in the state, New Mexico had a serious disciplinary action rate of 3.14 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 27th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	32	22.1%
Surrender	28	19.3%
Suspension	14	9.7%
Probation	14	9.7%
Practice Restriction	18	12.4%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	4	2.8%
Other Actions	35	24.1%
Total Actions	145	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	7	5.7%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	0	0.0%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	4	3.3%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	7	5.7%
Substance Abuse	44	35.8%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	15	12.2%
Other Offenses	46	37.4%
Total Records With Offense Listed	123	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 Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	3	11.1%
Surrender	4	14.8%
Suspension	3	11.1%
Probation	3	11.1%
Restriction on Controlled Substance License	2	7.4%
Required to Enter an Impaired Physician Program or Substance Abuse Treatment	4	14.8%
Other Actions	8	29.6%
Total Actions	27	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
New Mexico State Board of Medical Examiners
Kristen A. Hedrick, Executive Secretary
491 Old Santa Fe Trail
2nd Floor, Lamy Bldg.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
(505) 827-5022
Fax: (505) 827-7377

New Mexico Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners
Michelle McGinnis, Executive Director
PO Box 25101
Santa Fe, NM 87504
(505) 476-7120/9632