How to Find Previous Complaints on a Doctor
There have been disturbing stories in the news about patients who have been injured, over-medicated, or killed by a doctor, plastic surgeon or medical professional only to learn that he was not certified to practice medicine in their state and/or that had previous complaints filed against him. The worst time to learn that a doctor is negligent is after a tragedy has occurred. The best way to protect your family is to conduct preliminary research.
Instructions
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Visit the website of the American Board of Medical Specialties to assure that your doctor is certified. You have to register on the site to access data. Once you log in to the site you can enter your doctor's name, city, state and country where the doctor practices and click search. You can see which board(s) has certified your doctor, however, the website does not provide the date of certification.
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Visit your state's medical board to review complaints or lawsuits that were made against your doctor. You can file a complaint online or through the mail. Most states do not take complaints over the phone but need to have it in writing to keep on file. To inquire about complaints against a physician or medically professional you have to call your state's medical board.
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Visit the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see if there have been complaints filed through its agency. The business does not have to be accredited by the BBB to have a report. You can search by the business name, telephone number, website or email address. If there are complaints through the BBB, they can be viewed on the website.
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Tips & Warnings
The best way to research complaints against a doctor to to check more than one resource. Also, inquire if the doctor has been licensed in another state to see if there were any complaints filed at previous locations.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit doctor with patient 4 image by Paul Moore from Fotolia.com
