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

OKLAHOMA

1999 serious action rate: 5.95/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 5th

In Oklahoma, there were disciplinary actions reported against 289 doctors including 49 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 32 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 14 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 5 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 21 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 Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensing and Supervision sent board orders from 1991 through 1999. These include the physician's name, degree, license number, date and type of action taken, the reason for the action, and the address (in some cases). They also include modifications and terminations of board actions, but not court decisions affecting board actions. Oklahoma informed us no such actions had taken place.

The Oklahoma Board of Osteopathic Examiners sent listings of board orders from 1990 through 1999. They include the physician's name, degree, license number, date and type of action taken and the reason for the action. They also include modifications and terminations of board actions but contain no 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 Boards, 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 Oklahoma or that match a physician disciplined by Oklahoma are also included.

Oklahoma Board Internet Address: http://www.osbmls.state.ok.us

This state has a web site which we have graded D 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, Oklahoma took 37 serious disciplinary actions against MDs in 1999. Compared to the 6,216 MDs licensed in the state, Oklahoma had a serious disciplinary action rate of 5.95 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 5th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	47	7.9%
Surrender	29	4.9%
Suspension	62	10.5%
Probation	185	31.3%
Practice Restriction	65	11.0%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	40	6.8%
Other Actions	164	27.7%
Total Actions	592	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	21	8.2%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	14	5.5%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	5	2.0%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	33	12.9%
Substance Abuse	56	22.0%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	41	16.1%
Other Offenses	85	33.3%
Total Records With Offense Listed	255	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	5	23.8%
Suspension	5	23.8%
Probation	6	28.6%
Other Actions	5	23.8%
Total Actions	21	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	7	22.6%
Suspension	9	29.0%
Probation	9	29.0%
Other Actions	6	19.4%
Total Actions	31	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	6	10.7%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	3	5.4%
Suspension	5	8.9%
Emergency Suspension	1	1.8%
Probation	20	35.7%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	9	16.1%
Education	1	1.8%
Other Actions	11	19.6%
Total Actions	56	100.0%

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	5	5.1%
Surrender	1	1.0%
Suspension	16	16.2%
Emergency Suspension	3	3.0%
Probation	34	34.3%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	5	5.1%
Required to Enter an Impaired Physician Program or Substance Abuse Treatment	9	9.1%
Other Actions	26	26.3%
Total Actions	99	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

Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision
Carole A. Smith, Executive Director
PO Box 18256
Oklahoma City, OK 73154-0256
(405) 848-6841
Fax: (405) 848-8240

Internet Address: http://www.osbmls.state.ok.us

Oklahoma State Board of Osteopathic Examiners
Gary R Clark, Executive Director
4848 N. Lincoln Blvd., Suite 100
Oklahoma City, OK 73105-3321
(405) 528-8625