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

WISCONSIN

1999 serious action rate: 2.06/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 42nd

In Wisconsin, there were disciplinary actions reported against 336 doctors including 20 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 22 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 16 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient, 115 for substandard care, incompetence or negligence and 15 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 Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing publishes a monthly disciplinary action report containing disciplinary orders issued by all the state's licensing boards. The Medical Board sent a list of all its disciplinary actions for 1990, and the Department sent us monthly disciplinary reports from 1990 through 1999. The list includes the physician's name, degree, the action date, and the general type of action taken , but not the offense. The reports include the physician's name, degree, license number, date of birth, address, the date and type of action taken and the reason for the action. The reports include some information on modifications and terminations of board actions, but not on court decisions affecting board actions. Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin or that match a physician disciplined by Wisconsin are also included.

BS00024A.gif (1893 bytes) Wisconsin Board Internet address: http://badger.state.wi.us/agencies/drl
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, Wisconsin took 28 serious disciplinary actions against MDs and DOs in 1999. Compared to the 13,567 MDs licensed in the state, the Board had a serious disciplinary action rate of 2.06 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 42nd on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs and DOs 1990 through 1999*
Action	Number	Percent**
Revocation	18	3.6%
Surrender	59	11.8%
Suspension	55	11.0%
Probation	0	0.0%
Practice Restriction	66	13.2%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	29	5.8%
Other Actions	274	54.7%
Total Actions	501	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	15	4.2%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	17	4.8%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	116	32.6%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	23	6.5%
Substance Abuse	23	6.5%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	77	21.6%
Other Offenses	85	23.9%
Total Records With Offense Listed	356	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	3	12.0%
Surrender	4	16.0%
Suspension	1	4.0%
Other Actions	17	68.0%
Total Actions	25	100.0%

Table 4. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	1.3%
Surrender	12	7.8%
Suspension	8	5.2%
Emergency Suspension	1	0.7%
Practice Restriction	24	15.7%
Reprimand	41	26.8%
Other Actions	65	42.5%
Total Actions	153	100.0%

Table 5. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Criminal Conviction
Action	Number	Percent
Surrender	6	27.3%
Suspension	4	18.2%
Other Actions	12	54.5%
Total Actions	22	100.0%

Table 6. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	2	6.1%
Surrender	2	6.1%
Revocation, Surrender, or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	5	15.2%
Suspension	3	9.1%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	3	9.1%
Education	5	15.2%
Other Actions	13	39.4%
Total Actions	33	100.0%

Table 7. Disciplinary Actions Taken for Substance Abuse
Action	Number	Percent
Surrender	2	5.1%
Revocation, Surrender or Suspension of Controlled Substance License	1	2.6%
Suspension	6	15.4%
Emergency Suspension	2	5.1%
Restriction of Controlled Substance License	4	10.3%
Required to Enter an Impaired Physician Program or Drug or Alcohol Treatment	10	25.6%
Other Actions	14	35.9%
Total Actions	39	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
Wisconsin Medical Examining Board
Patrick D. Braatz, Bureau Director
Department of Regulation and Licensing
PO Box 8935
Madison, WI 53708-8935
(608) 266-1188

Internet Address: http://badger.state.wi.us/agencies/drl