Prescribing Justice: The Law and Politics of Discipline for Physician Felony Offenders

Only a small segment of the physician population has been formally disciplined. According to a 1999 Institute of Medicine report, those sanctioned are health care professionals who “may be incompetent, impaired, uncaring, or may even have criminal intent,” and thus were properly the subject of investigation and/or action in order to protect patients from harm. On a national scale, disciplinary actions were imposed upon approximately .05% of all physicians in the United States, or approximately 4,000 of the 800,000 licensed physicians practicing in the U.S. in 2000.

Milton Heumann, Brian Pinaire, and Jennifer Lerman

Boston University Public Interest Law Journal

February 2008

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