Doctor no!
Posted on July 22nd, 2008 – 3:43 PMBy Maura Lerner
The story about Dr. John Beall, who was disciplined for having sex with patients, has gotten a lot of attention and a lot of questions. So here’s some more context.
A few dozen times a year, a Minnesota doctor is called on the carpet for breaching the professional code of conduct. Beall’s medical license was indefinitely suspended; one of the most severe penalties that can be imposed by the state Board of Medical Practice.Â
In the years that I’ve covered these cases, I’ve been struck by how rarely Minnesota doctors are disciplined for outright medical incompetence. More often than not, when they get in trouble with the licensing board, it’s because of drug or alcohol abuse, prescribing narcotics irresponsibly, or some sort of sexual misconduct with patients.
The numbers are small. The Medical Board, which licenses more than 17,000 doctors in Minnesota, gets about 700 complaints a year about their behavior.
In 2006, 26 involved accusations of sexual misconduct, and of those, only nine resulted in some sort of disciplinary action (which can range from reprimand to barring them from practice.)Â Â
In 2006, the most recent year for which the board has data, a total of 11 Minnesota doctors got the most severe penalties - revoking or suspending their licenses.
Public Citizen’s Health Research Group has repeatedly accused Minnesota of laxness because of its low rate of disciplinary actions, which is roughly half the national average. But the Minnesota licensing board officials say they stress alternatives, such as programs designed to help troubled doctors kick their addictions.
To take a look at your own doctor’s record, check the Board’s web site. You can also check out a summary of the complaints on its biannual report.
2 Responses to "Doctor no!"
As a whole, physicians seem very reluctant to police their own profession, at least publicly. I have to wonder, though, if a lot of cases are dealt with behind closed doors, before they ever hit the medical practice board’s radar screen. Especially when it comes to clinical competence; that’s what peer review is for.
Are those 700 complaints all from the public? Or does that include reporting from medical groups as well? Are medical groups required to report certain infractions, i.e. sexual misconduct?
It would be interesting to know how Minnesota stacks up in terms of how many complaints are filed overall, compared to other states. And what percentage of complaints are dismissed as being unsubstantiated.
Visiting the BMP’s Web site, I notice that if you want to file a complaint, you have to get it notarized. Talk about putting up a barrier for the public, especially for the more vulnerable among us.
i too was “treated” by dr beall only i was left with kidney disease.i guess his mind was on his porn instead of my kidneys,i tried to sue him but you have to have other doctors substantiate this & they all stick together so i had to drop the case. my husband donated his kidney to me so i could live ,that alone is enough but now i have to take rejection pills to the tune of $25000 a year. i’m glad someone finally caught him & i hope he can never practice medicine again,i hope the board of medicine will let me know when they plan on giving him back his license ,i will be there to do all i can to prevent it.i’d like to due a class action lawsuit against him if anyone else is interested!
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