Public Citizen study finds physician discipline is lax

A study by Public Citizen found that many physicians who have been disciplined for criminal conduct receive minor sanctions and continue to practice medicine-some with the federal government. The study found that:

Moreover, Public Citizen cited a 2002 Associated Press report that found that more than 100 federally employed physicians had criminal records or had disciplinary action taken against them by state medical boards. The study tracked 2,247 physicians convicted of a crime between 1990 and 1999, according to Modern Healthcare (9/4/2006).