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

UTAH

1999 serious action rate: 2.73/1000 doctors
1999 ranking:33rd

In Utah, there were disciplinary actions reported against 132 doctors including 8 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 20 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 6 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 3 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 2 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 Utah Medical Board sent newsletters listing actions from 1990 through 1997. As of 1998, Utah requested that the same information be downloaded from their web site, which we did through 1999. The newsletters list the physician's name, city and state of residence, type of action taken, and reason for the action. The newsletters also contain information on modifications and terminations of board actions but not on court decisions affecting board actions. Utah informed us no such actions had taken place.

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 Utah or that match a physician disciplined by Utah are also included.

Utah Board Internet Address: http://www.commerce.state.ut.us/dopl/dopl1.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, Utah took 13 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 4,770 MDs licensed in the state, Utah had a serious disciplinary action rate of 2.73 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 33rd on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	12	5.5%
Surrender	11	5.0%
Suspension	15	6.9%
Probation	62	28.4%
Practice Restriction	10	4.6%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	89	40.8%
Other Actions	19	8.7%
Total Actions	218	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	2	1.6%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	6	4.8%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	3	2.4%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	21	16.7%
Substance Abuse	8	6.3%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	29	23.0%
Other Offenses	57	45.2%
Total Records With Offense Listed	126	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	1	8.3%
Suspension	2	16.7%
Probation	4	33.3%
Other Actions	5	41.7%
Total Actions	12	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	1	2.7%
Surrender	1	2.7%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	10	27.0%
Suspension	2	5.4%
Probation	12	32.4%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	8	21.6%
Other Actions	3	8.1%
Total Actions	37	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	1	6.3%
Surrender	1	6.3%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	5	31.3%
Probation	6	37.5%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	3	18.8%
Total Actions	16	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
Utah Department of Commerce
Craig Jackson, Director
Director of Occupational and Professional Licensure
PO Box 146741
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6741
(801) 530-6628/ 6733/ 6736
Fax: (801) 530-6511
E-mail: brdopl.klesh@email.state.ut.us

Internet Address: http://www.commerce.state.ut.us/dopl/dopl1.htm