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

WASHINGTON

1999 serious action rate: 2.49/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 37th

In Washington, there were disciplinary actions reported against 408 doctors including 11 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 25 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 28 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 55 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 9 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 Washington Medical Board sent board orders from 1990 through 1996. The orders include the physician's name, degree, date and type of action taken and the reason for the action. The board also sent monthly summaries of its actions which covered 1991 through 1999, listing the physician's name, degree, license number, city and state of residence, date and type of action taken, and reason for the action. The orders contain information on modifications and terminations of board actions but not on court decisions which affect board actions.

The Washington State Board of Osteopathic Medicine sent orders for actions taken from 1991 through 1999 which include the physician's name, degree, date and type of action and the reason for the action. These contain information on modifications and terminations of board orders but not on court decisions that affect board actions. Washington stated that court decisions would be included in the information we received. Many orders are consent agreements between the physician and the board prior to final board action.

The information provided covers disciplinary actions taken against allopathic physicians (MDs) and osteopathic physicians (DO).

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

Board Internet Address: http://www.doh.wa.gov/medical/default.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. The internet address for the Osteopathic Board is http://www.doh.wa.gov/SBOH . We did not rate osteopathic boards in our survey. 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, Washington took 38 serious disciplinary actions against MDs in 1999. Compared to the 15,254 MDs licensed in the state, Washington had a serious disciplinary action rate of 2.49 serious action per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 37th on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Actions	Number	Percent**
Revocation	49	8.2%
Surrender	80	13.4%
Suspension	39	6.5%
Probation	108	18.1%
Practice Restriction	76	12.8%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	24	4.0%
Other Actions	220	36.9%
Total Actions	596	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	9	3.0%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	32	10.8%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	59	19.9%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	26	8.8%
Substance Abuse	13	4.4%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	60	20.3%
Other Offenses	97	32.8%
Total Records With Offense Listed	296	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	2	3.8%
Surrender	4	7.7%
Suspension	2	3.8%
Emergency Suspension	5	9.6%
Probation	13	25.0%
Fine	18	34.6%
Other Actions	8	15.4%
Total Actions	52	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	7	9.46%
Surrender	5	6.76%
Suspension	1	1.35%
Emergency Suspension	6	8.11%
Probation	15	20.27%
Practice Restriction	12	16.22%
Fine	14	18.92%
Reprimand	2	2.70%
Other Actions	12	16.22%
Total Actions	74	100.0%

Table 5 Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	3	18.8%
Surrender	1	6.3%
Suspension	1	6.3%
Probation	1	6.3%
Fine	6	37.5%
Other Actions	4	25.0%
Total Actions	16	100.0%

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	5.1%
Surrender	4	10.3%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	1	2.6%
Emergency Suspension	1	2.6%
Probation	10	25.6%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	6	15.4%
Fine	8	20.5%
Education	3	7.7%
Other Actions	4	10.3%
Total Actions	39	100.0%

Table 7. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	10.5%
Surrender	1	5.3%
Suspension	3	15.8%
Emergency Suspension	3	15.8%
Probation	4	21.1%
Fine	3	15.8%
Required to Enter an Impaired Physician Program or Substance Abuse Treatment	1	5.3%
Other Actions	2	10.5%
Total Actions	19	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:
Washington Medical Quality Assurance Commission
Keith O. Shafer, Executive Director
PO Box 47866
Olympia, WA 98504-7866
(360) 236-4800

Internet Address: http://www.doh.wa.gov/medical/default.htm

Washington State Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery
1300 Quince Street, SE
P.O. Box 47870
Olympia, WA 98504-7870
(360) 236-4800
Fax: (360) 586-0745

Internet Address: http://www.doh.wa.gov/SBOH