Smaller libraries may not carry this directory because of cost. If this is the case, call the reference librarian at your regional library or the closest medical school library, and ask her to look up the information and give it to you over the phone. Librarians routinely provide this service. State medical licensing board. Your state medical licensing board should be able to tell you the status of your doctor's license, when she was first licensed in the state, and the status of any misconduct charges or disciplinary actions.
Professional discipline is unusual, but when it does occur, it becomes a matter of public record.
There's a general practice doctor in our town who has been disciplined for sexually abusing several patients and making inappropriate comments to others. I worry that new people in town won't know of his history unless they call the state licensing board to check. Public Citizen Health Research Group. This group, founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, publishes a three-volume set of books which lists doctors who have been disciplined by state or federal agencies for incompetence, negligence, substance abuse, patient abuse, or the inappropriate distribution of prescription drugs. The title of the 1996 edition is 13,012 Questionable Doctors .