At least eight must be practicing doctors. Dr. Ram Krishna, a Yuma orthopedic surgeon and board chairman, said it only makes sense that doctors, who understand medical issues, dominate the board. But many others disagree. The board, she said, should be balanced with more lay members. But more lay members wouldn't necessarily result in a board more willing to dish out discipline, said Fran Roberts, vice president of the Arizona Hospital and Health Care Association and former director of the state nursing board, the medical board's counterpart for nurses.
Most states have a preponderance of doctors on their medical boards.
Rhode Island has the closest to a citizen board, with 50 percent doctors and 50 percent laypeople. The board ranks in the middle of national surveys on which states are most serious about disciplining doctors. Nikki Samaras Deary, deputy chief administrator for Rhode Island, said more states are interested in changing their board's composition. Stephen Cooper, a Casa Grande attorney who was on the board from 1991 to 1996, said the solution may be to make board members full-time state employees, similar to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. Volunteer board members meet just once every other month for meetings that often run so long that Cooper would put a rubber band around his wrist and snap it to stay awake.