By BILL LEWIS
Staff Writer and Associated Press
 

In the past 10 years, Tennessee's Board of Medical Examiners has disciplined 355 doctors for serious offenses but allowed many of the physicians to continue practicing medicine, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen says in a report released yesterday.

Information about those physicians, who were disciplined for incompetence, improperly prescribing drugs, sexual misconduct, criminal convictions and other offenses, is available online at www.questionabledoctors.org, Public Citizen spokeswoman Shannon Little said.

Consumers can search the list of doctors free. For $10 they can view and print disciplinary reports on as many as 10 doctors.

With yesterday's addition of Tennessee, the Web site provides information about physicians in 38 states and the District of Columbia, Public Citizen announced.

''For many of the offenses committed by Tennessee doctors, the disciplinary actions have been dangerously lenient, said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group.

In the past 10 years the state took action against 45 doctors because of criminal convictions, 21 for substandard care or incompetence and negligence, 64 for improperly prescribing drugs and 22 for substance abuse, according to the consumer advocacy group.

Many got off lightly, Public Citizen said. For example, Tennessee authorities suspended the license of one doctor for malpractice and improper sexual conduct toward a patient. After 13 months his license was reinstated. The Web site shows that in 21 actions taken because of substandard care or incompetence and negligence, only five involved revocation, suspension or surrender of a doctor's license in Tennessee.

The state Board of Medical Examiners has a variety of penalties it can impose, said Diane Denton, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.

''That depends on the violation and what the board considers an appropriate action,'' she said. ''Having to stop practicing is not the only action they can take.''

The 12-member board, which is appointed by the governor, includes nine doctors and three consumer members, Denton said.

According to Public Citizen, Tennessee was ranked 48th among all states and the District of Columbia for the number of doctors disciplined through serious actions by state boards. Wisconsin, Delaware and Hawaii had lower rankings.

''Nearly half of Tennessee doctors who committed one or more of the five most serious offenses weren't required to stop practicing, even temporarily,'' Wolfe said in a written statement.

Public Citizen said that out of Tennessee's 15,000 doctors, 22 disciplinary actions were taken in 2002, the latest year for which data was available. By contrast, Kentucky's 9,500 doctors were disciplined 72 times by that state.

The report noted that the rankings reflect ''not on the quality of the states' doctors, but the performance of their boards.''

The Tennessee Department of Health has implemented two measures to improve its disciplinary efficiency, said Judy Eads, the state's assistant commissioner of health.

The department has added more attorneys and promoted alternate dispute resolutions, which allow the state and licensees to agree to a settlement instead of sending an entire case before a licensing board's three-member panel, Eads said.

''Certainly that is not where we would want Tennessee to rank,'' Eads said. ''We're working diligently to pull up that number up.''

The Department of Health's Web site, www.Tennessee.gov/ health, also provides information about doctors who have been disciplined in Tennessee and is free, Denton said.

It does not include information about Tennessee doctors who are disciplined in other states, she said. The Public Citizen site includes that information.

There are 17,561 licensed physicians in Tennessee. Of those, 12,840 are actively practicing medicine, Denton said.