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

OHIO

1999 serious action rate: 5.90/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 7th

In Ohio, there were disciplinary actions reported against 830 doctors including 115 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 41 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 6 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 31 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 175 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 Ohio State Medical Board sent lists of all the disciplinary actions taken from 1990 through 1999. These lists include the physician's name, degree, the city and state of residence, the date and type of action taken, and some information on the reason for the action. The 1992 through 1999 reports also include license numbers, and additional information on modifications and terminations of board actions and 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 Ohio or that match a physician disciplined by Ohio are also included.

Ohio Board Internet Address: http://www.state.oh.us/med

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, Ohio took 190 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 32,220 MDs licensed in the state, Ohio had a serious disciplinary action rate of 5.90 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 7th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	212	14.3%
Surrender	67	4.5%
Suspension	295	19.9%
Probation	417	28.1%
Practice Restriction	177	11.9%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	43	2.9%
Other Actions	273	18.4%
Total Actions	1484	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	231	24.5%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	6	0.6%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	31	3.3%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	43	4.6%
Substance Abuse	137	14.6%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	194	20.6%
Other Offenses	299	31.8%
Total Records With Offense Listed	941	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	12	27.9%
Surrender	2	4.7%
Suspension	8	18.6%
Probation	12	27.9%
Practice Restriction	4	9.3%
Reprimand	4	9.3%
Other Actions	1	2.3%
Total Actions	43	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	74	24.3%
Surrender	4	1.3%
Suspension	57	18.8%
Emergency Suspension	60	19.7%
Probation	64	21.1%
Other Actions	45	14.8%
Total Actions	304	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	8	11.6%
Surrender	5	7.2%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	1	1.4%
Suspension	20	29.0%
Probation	24	34.8%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	3	4.3%
Education	1	1.4%
Other Actions	7	10.1%
Total Actions	69	100.0%

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	7	3.1%
Surrender	3	1.3%
Revocation, Suspension, or Surrender of Controlled Substance License	5	2.2%
Suspension	41	17.9%
Emergency Suspension	7	3.1%
Probation	69	30.1%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	12	5.2%
Other Actions	85	37.1%
Total Actions	229	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
State Medical Board of Ohio
Ray Bumgarner, JD, Executive Director
77 S. High St., 17th Floor
Columbus, OH 43266-0315
(614) 466-3934

Internet Address: http://www.state.oh.us/med