Posted on: Friday, March 28, 2003

Hawai'i medical board ranked lowest

Associated Press

Public Citizen, the public interest group founded by Ralph Nader, ranks Hawai'i's medical review board last in the nation when it comes to disciplining doctors.

The organization issued a report yesterday based on information from the Federation of State Medical Boards, ranking the performance of the 50 state medical boards and the District of Columbia based on the rate of serious disciplinary actions taken against doctors last year.

The 10 states with the worst performing boards were Hawai'i, with the lowest rate, Delaware, Wisconsin, Tennessee, South Carolina, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. Hawai'i was also listed among the states with the lowest rates in 2000 and 2001.

The states with the 10 best-performing boards were Wyoming, with the highest rate, North Dakota, Alaska, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Ohio, Colorado, Montana and Utah.

Members and officials of Hawai'i's Board of Medical Examiners could not be reached late yesterday for comment.

Nationally, state boards took 2,864 actions against doctors, typically for offenses such as negligence, incompetence, sexual misconduct and breaking criminal laws, the group said.

The national rate was 3.56 actions per 1,000 physicians, compared to 3.36 in 2001. The group showed Hawai'i at 1.07 disciplinary actions per 1,000 physicians while national leader Wyoming is shown with 11.87 disciplinary actions per 1,000 physicians.