nationalcover.gif (12529 bytes)SOUTH DAKOTA

 

1999 serious action rate: 8.77/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 2nd

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In South Dakota, there were disciplinary actions reported against 41 doctors including 4 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 2 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 2 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 5 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 3 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 South Dakota Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners provided disciplinary orders covering 1993 through 1999. These orders contain the physician's name, degree, license number, the date and type of action taken and the reason for the action, as well as some information on terminations of board orders but not on court decisions affecting board orders. The South Dakota Board did not respond to our request for this information.

Besides disciplinary actions taken by the State Medical Board, this listing also includes actions taken by the Medicare/Medicaid programs, the Food and Drug Administration, or the Drug Enforcement Administration against physicians located in this state. Disciplinary actions taken by other states against physicians located in South Dakota or that match a physician disciplined by South Dakota are also included.

BS00024A.gif (1893 bytes) South Dakota Board Internet Address:   http://www.state.sd.us/dcr/medical/med-hom.htm

This state has a web site which we have graded X 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, South Dakota took 3 serious disciplinary actions against MDs in 1999. Compared to the 1,562 MDs licensed in the state, South Dakota had a serious disciplinary action rate of 1.92 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 44th on that list (see Table A).

The tables below summarize the data Public Citizen received from South Dakota.

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1993 through 1999*

Action

Number

Percent**

Revocation

5

6.7%

Surrender

4

5.3%

Suspension

4

5.3%

Probation

23

30.7%

Practice Restriction

4

5.3%

Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License

1

1.3%

Other Actions

34

45.3%

Total Actions

75

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 1993 through 1999*

Offense

Number

Percent

Criminal Conviction

3

8.1%

Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient

2

5.4%

Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence

5

13.5%

Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs

2

5.4%

Substance Abuse

4

10.8%

Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency

5

13.5%

Other Offenses

16

43.2%

Total Records With Offense Listed

37

100.0%

* Includes only those actions for which an offense was listed and for which we had a corresponding term in our database.

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

South Dakota State Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners
Paul Jensen, Executive Secretary
1323 South Minnesota Ave.
Sioux Falls, SD 57105
(605) 334-8343
Fax: (605) 336-0270
E-mail: kachenba@sdsma.org

Internet Address: http://www.state.sd.us/dcr/medical/med-hom.htm