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Jul 11, 2007 11:00 pm US/Central
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Medical Board Plans Fingerprinting Of TX Doctors
Sweeping Changes Made In Response to CBS 11 Investigation Of Doctor's Criminal Records
by Robert Riggs
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
The Texas Medical Board plans to order all Texas doctors to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks in order to weed out physicians that are hiding their convictions.
The call for mandatory background checks comes in the wake of a CBS 11 investigation which uncovered that a registered sex offender was honored by the Texas Legislature as their "Doctor of the Day" twice over the past two years.
Dr. Donald Patrick, the Executive Director of the Texas Medical Board, called for fingerprint background checks citing a series of reports broadcast by CBS 11.
"When you brought this to our attention, we stepped back and said, 'How can we get better? What can we do to make our situation where the patients of Texas will be better protected?'"
More than 60,000 Texas physicians will join the ranks of teachers, day care workers, nurses, real estate agents and even truck drivers who transport hazardous materials in having to undergo fingerprint checks.
The Medical Board has been relying on criminal background checks based on the names of applicants. But a review of 120,000 applicants for education related positions by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) found that 5,000 of that number had used an alias that hid their criminal record.
Mike Lesko, the Deputy Chief of the DPS Crime Records Service says fingerprints are foolproof. "Criminals have a tendency to lie. And with finger prints, you are always going to be able to match against a person's biomedical identifier, which is a fingerprint as opposed to a name," he said. "You have common names. Criminals may try to elude a system by a false name, and thus avoid detection."
Dr. Patrick says the Board plans to require electronic fingerprinting by September for medical license applicants and doctors with disciplinary problems.
The Board has been swamped with new applications from physicians seeking to practice in Texas where damage limits have been placed on malpractice lawsuits.
The Board received a surge of 4,000 applications for medical licenses in 2006. More than one-third of the applicants reside out of state. The Board has only been checking the applicant's names against Texas criminal records which could permit doctors with criminal records in other states to go undetected here.
The Board, according to Dr. Patrick, plans to ask the next meeting of the Legislature in January 2009 for additional money to fingerprint more than 60,000 physicians currently practicing in Texas.
"There will be people that don't like it. There will be people that will be angry about it. But my question is what are you afraid of? If you don't have a criminal record, you don't have anything to fear," Dr. Patrick said. "If you do have a criminal record, I think people need to know about it. You're a doctor. You get this ultimate trust nobody else gets but you."
CBS 11 observed the electronic fingerprint scans currently conducted around the state by Integrated Biometric Technology in conjunction with the Texas Department of Public Safety. Applicants press each hand against the glass face of a scanner. It records a digital image of their unique set of fingerprints. In less than a minute, the prints are ready to be sent to the DPS, which then runs a national background check against FBI rap sheets.
Mike Lesko says the fingerprints can then be retained in their database to red flag any future problems. "If the individual subsequently reoffends or offends the first time, we can notify the agency that their individual has a criminal history," he said.
In response to CBS 11's investigation, the Medical Board is also making major changes to the physician profiles posted on its official website.
CBS 11 found that doctors with convictions had not reported their records for the past three years to the Board's website which is used by patients to check out their doctors.
Now, the Board staff will try to verify information reported by doctors and add a disclaimer about information that is unconfirmed.
Dr. Patrick says he is more than disappointed that some doctors violated what was a reporting system based on an honor code. "I'm angry about it. I'm a doctor myself," he said. "I like to think of my profession as being honorable and when it isn't it distresses me."
Also in response to CBS 11's investigation, the Board recently passed a new rule that requires doctors to report new criminal records within thirty-days of a conviction.
CBS 11's reports had also pointed out that doctor's disciplinary records were difficult for the public to download from the agency's website. Dr. Patrick also says that he too had problems opening files in order to read the reports and that the agency will now change the disciplinary records to the more commonly used PDF file format.
Dr. Patrick credits CBS 11's reports for the sweeping changes that are being implemented.
"I think clearly that anybody would tell you that the people of Texas are better protected by the Medical Board than they've ever been," he said. "We need to get better. And one way has been called to our attention by [CBS 11] in a way in which we understand."
(CBS 11 News)