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

OREGON

1999 serious action rate: 3.01/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 30th

In Oregon, there were disciplinary actions reported against 262 doctors including 10 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 5 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 4 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 11 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 1 who was 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 Oregon Board of Medical Examiners provided copies of its quarterly cumulative listings of disciplinary reports from 1990 through 1999. These computer printouts list all doctors whose practice was somehow restricted by the Board at the time of the report. These reports list the physician's name, license number, city and state of residence, and the date and type of action taken. They provide information on modifications and terminations of board actions but not on court decisions affecting board actions.Oregon stated that court decisions would be included in the information we received.

Within the last four years, Oregon appears to have developed a policy of allowing doctors who are under investigation to surrender their licenses in lieu of further investigation and then labeling these surrenders "not a disciplinary action." In a letter sent to us, however, the Oregon board stated that "the licensee cannot reactivate their license without the completion of the original investigation." These physicians are not included in the Oregon listing of physicians.

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 Oregon or that match to a physician disciplined by Oregon are also included.

Oregon Board Internet Address: http://www.bme.state.or.us

This state has a web site which we have graded F 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, Oregon took 27 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 8,984 MDs licensed in the state, Oregon had a serious disciplinary action rate of 3.01 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 30th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	18	5.2%
Surrender	30	8.7%
Suspension	36	10.5%
Probation	67	19.5%
Practice Restriction	56	16.3%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	43	12.5%
Other Actions	94	27.3%
Total Actions	344	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	1	1.7%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	7	12.1%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	11	19.0%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	5	8.6%
Substance Abuse	13	22.4%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	2	3.4%
Other Offenses	19	32.8%
Total Records With Offense Listed	58	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
Surrender	3	23.1%
Suspension	1	7.7%
Practice Restriction	2	15.4%
Fine	1	7.7%
Reprimand	5	38.5%
Other Actions	1	7.7%
Total Actions	13	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Suspension	4	26.7%
Emergency Suspension	1	6.7%
Probation	8	53.3%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	1	6.7%
Other Actions	1	6.7%
Total Actions	15	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
Oregon Board of Medical Examiners
Kathleen Haley, JD, Executive Director
1500 SW First Ave., Suite 620
Portland, OR 97201-5826
(503) 229-5770
(877) 254-6263
Fax: (503) 229-6543

Internet Address: http://www.bme.state.or.us