DOCTORS' VIOLATIONS ON INTERNET

Watchdog group adds names for Mississippi patients to check out

Dr. Lloyd Gordon of Brandon is a nationally recognized physician
specializing in the treatment of addiction. He's a delegate to the American
Medical Association and a director of the American Society of Addiction
Medicine.

And he's also a "questionable doctor," according to the watchdog group
Public Citizen. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit maintains a Web site
listing, "Questionable Doctors," that lists physicians who have either
violated Medicare policies, been in trouble with the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency or disciplined by their state board of medical licensure.

Public Citizen this month added Mississippi doctors - 240 of them - to its
Web listing for the first time. Many of them, including Gordon, are
currently practicing.

"All too often, state medical boards are more concerned about protecting the
reputations of doctors than doing their job, which is to protect
unsuspecting patients from doctors who may be incompetent or negligent," Dr.
Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said in a
news release.

"Too often, Mississippi lets serious and sometimes repeat offenders off the
hook."

Mississippi has over 8,000 licensed doctors, and about 5,800 actively
practice, according to the state Board of Medical Licensure.

Gordon, who acknowledges past problems with drug and alcohol addiction,
joins other critics of the listing who say the Web site unfairly targets
physicians who have been cleared of charges or who years ago were
disciplined or underwent treatment.

"There are a bunch of Mississippi doctors who have not been identified (and)
are using, abusing drugs or alcohol," Gordon said. "Which is more
dangerous?"

The number of Mississippi physicians admitting substance abuse problems has
increased 300 percent in five years. That's due in part to a 1998 rule
change that allows doctors who disclose addictions avoid getting citations
in their public records the first time problems arise.

"I think most doctors get the help they need," said Dr. W. Joseph Burnett,
executive officer of the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure.

He emphasized that the total number of doctors with substance abuse problems
remains low. "We're talking about less than one percent" of physicians
licensed to practice in the state, Burnett said.

Of nearly a dozen Mississippi physicians on Public Citizen's "Questionable
Doctors" list contacted by The Clarion-Ledger , Gordon is the only one who
agreed to speak publicly. In 1989, Gordon underwent treatment for drug and
alcohol addiction. He was disciplined by the Mississippi Board of Medical
Licensure, put on probation and monitored for five years, ending in 1994.

If all doctors who had substance abuse problems lost their licenses
permanently or had their practices threatened, other doctors who need
treatment would not seek it, Gordon said.

"Do I think I should have continued to practice? Yes," Gordon said.

Lumping together every doctor who has been disciplined could lead to the
public being misinformed. "Some doctors are disciplined because of failure
to pay child support," Burnett said. "That's not exactly like someone who
was addicted to a narcotic."

The board has a procedure for treating doctors who have a substance abuse
problem, Burnett said. Restrictions are placed on the physician's license
that spell out the conditions the doctor must meet to return to practicing
medicine. The order usually includes professional treatment and random drug
testing for five years.

"If they keep clean, the order is removed," although the disciplinary action
remains as a public record, Burnett said. All disciplinary actions taken by
the state board are available for free on its Web site, Burnett said. "It's
appropriate for the public to have access to the information," he said.

An advantage to Public Citizen's Web site over state agency Web sites is the
cross-referencing of state and federal information on physicians. Some may
have had disciplinary action taken in more than one state, said Public
Citizen spokeswoman Shannon Little.

"Roughly 90 percent of the offenses (listed in a report) are serious," Wolfe
said. A doctor is removed from the Public Citizen list if his violations are
more than 10 years old, Wolfe said.

The state Board of Medical Licensure also lists if a physician has been
disciplined by federal authorities because the board will discipline the
physician as well, Burnett said.