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

NEW YORK

1999 serious action rate: 4.71/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 14th

In New York, there were disciplinary actions reported against 2251 doctors including 21 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 43 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 17 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 465 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 295 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 York Office of Professional Medical Conduct sent copies of newsletters including disciplinary actions from 1990 through 1999. The listings contained the physician's name, degree, license number, city and state of residence, and the date and type of action taken. The newsletters did not contain information on modifications and terminations of board actions or on court decisions affecting board actions. New York stated that court decisions would be included in the information we received. The newsletters for 1992-1999 also included addresses, reason for action, and some information on appeals.

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 York or that match a physician disciplined by New York are also included.

New York Board Internet Address: http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/opmc/main.htm

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 New York took 366 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 77,781 MDs in the state, New York had a serious disciplinary action rate of 4.71 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and ranked 14th on that list (see Table A, Findings, pg. 14).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	559	18.7%
Surrender	609	20.3%
Suspension	245	8.2%
Probation	750	25.1%
Practice Restriction	130	4.3%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	18	0.6%
Other Actions	682	22.8%
Total Actions	2993	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	312	14.4%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	18	0.8%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	486	22.5%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	43	2.0%
Substance Abuse	21	1.0%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	909	42.0%
Other Offenses	375	17.3%
Total Records With Offense Listed	2164	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	6	24.0%
Surrender	3	12.0%
Suspension	2	8.0%
Probation	8	32.0%
Fine	1	4.0%
Other Actions	5	20.0%
Total Actions	25	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	115	17.6%
Surrender	93	14.2%
Suspension	52	8.0%
Emergency Suspension	7	1.1%
Probation	196	30.0%
Practice Restriction	69	10.6%
Fine	39	6.0%
Reprimand	37	5.7%
Other Actions	45	6.9%
Total Actions	653	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	89	23.2%
Surrender	78	20.3%
Suspension	35	9.1%
Emergency Suspension	13	3.4%
Probation	86	22.4%
Fine	38	9.9%
Other Actions	45	11.7%
Total Actions	384	100.0%

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	6	9.0%
Surrender	7	10.4%
Suspension	7	10.4%
Probation	21	31.3%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	8	11.9%
Fine	5	7.5%
Education	5	7.5%
Other Actions	8	11.9%
Total Actions	67	100.0%

Table 7. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	8.7%
Surrender	7	30.4%
Suspension	4	17.4%
Probation	9	39.1%
Other Actions	1	4.3%
Total Actions	23	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 York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct
Anne Saile, Acting Director
New York State Department of Health
OPMC
433 River Street,Suite 303
Troy, NY 12180
(518) 474-8357
(518) 402-0836

Internet Address: http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/opmc/main.htm