Montana and Nebraska pull the least. Arizona ranked 42nd - counting revocations and surrenders of licenses. Dr. Tim Bradshaw Hunter, an Arizona board member, said it's difficult to revoke a doctor's license. Every state board faces the issue of what's appropriate discipline, said Dale L. Austin, executive vice director of the Federation of State Medical Boards. There are no national uniform discipline guidelines and no plans to develop any, he said.
Doctors are reluctant to create guidelines because they feel that medicine is too subjective.
There's no 'If you do X, you get Y,' and frankly, I don't know if it would ever get to that point. Maryland's board holds an orientation session for newly licensed doctors to warn them of potential problems, said Kevin Melville, assistant director of training and education for Maryland Physician Quality Assurance. The session is particularly helpful for graduates of foreign medical schools who may be used to different methods. We tell them that American women don't like that. The Ohio State Medical Board recently decided to begin investigating doctors who have three or more malpractice settlements within the past five years, even if no complaint has been filed.