State Watch for 2 Percent of Doctors

ALBANY — More than 2 percent of all
doctors practicing in New York last year landed on the state medical
board’s watch list because of problems including substance abuse, mental health concerns or their professional conduct.

The
data was in a report released last month from the Federation of State
Medical Boards. It shows that the percentage of doctors being monitored
in New York was twice the national average and seventh highest among
all states.

Last year, 1,400 of the more than 65,000 physicians practicing in New York were monitored at some point during 2007.

Of
those, 60 percent were placed on the watch list because of concerns
about their professional conduct, such as a medical mistake or patient
complaints. The remaining 40 percent were in the state’s physicians
impairment program, because of alcohol or drug abuse, a behavior or
anger management problem or mental health issues.

New York’s board has a lower burden of proof than some other states for substantiating complaints against doctors and ….. read entire NY Times article.