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

WYOMING

1999 serious action rate: 8.15/1000 doctors
1999 ranking: 3rd

In Wyoming, there were disciplinary actions reported against 50 doctors including 5 who were disciplined for substance abuse, 3 for misprescribing or overprescribing drugs, 2 for sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct with a patient 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 Wyoming Board of Medical Examiners sent copies of orders from June 1993 through December 1999, that include the physician's name, address, the date and type of action taken, and the reason for the action. The orders contain no information on modifications, terminations, or court decisions which affect board actions. Wyoming sent separate information on court actions. The Board also sent us a list of disciplinary actions taken from February 1990 through December 1994 that include the physician's name, degree, and the date and type of action taken.

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

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This state does not have a web site. You may wish to review our February 2000 Survey of Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Medical Board Web Sites.

According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, Wyoming took 8 serious disciplinary actions against MDs in 1999. Compared to the 981 MDs licensed in the state, Wyoming had a serious disciplinary action rate of 8.15 serious actions per 1,000 MDs and a ranking of 3rd on that list (see Table A).

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

Table 1. Disciplinary Actions Against MDs 1990 through 1999
Action	Number	Percent
Revocation	6	8.8%
Surrender	7	10.3%
Suspension	5	7.4%
Probation	5	7.4%
Practice Restriction	7	10.3%
Action Taken Against Controlled Substance License	4	5.9%
Other Actions	34	50.0%
Total Actions	68	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 were Disciplined 1990 through 1999*
Offense	Number	Percent
Criminal Conviction	2	5.6%
Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient	2	5.6%
Substandard Care, Incompetence or Negligence	0	0.0%
Misprescribing or Overprescribing Drugs	3	8.3%
Substance Abuse	5	13.9%
Disciplinary Action Taken Against License by Another State or Agency	6	16.7%
Other Offenses	18	50.0%
Total Records With Offense Listed	36	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
Carole Shotwell, JD, Executive Secretary
Colony Building, 2nd Floor
211 W. 19th Street
Cheyenne, WY 82002
(307) 778-7053