Doctor Search on the Internet - Healthy Thing to Do?

Have you looked your doctors up on the Internet? When you do, you may find incomplete inconsistencies. Many web sites had no listing for several doctors I was looking up. So I looked at some others.

I went to the state medical board pages. I found that some doctors listed on the other web pages were not listed on the state board pages. Another doctor is listed with an active and an inactive license (several are listed like this). This doctor’s medical education and training have been done overseas. Some doctors have no residency training listed. This doctor has been in practice for 45 years, and is licensed in two countries and two other states. The doctor’s address is listed as a PO Box.

The type of information listed was different amongst the states. For instance, one state listed one line of information – license number, status of license, present location, disciplinary action (yes or no, not what), date of issue and expiration. Another state gives this plus the doctor’s education and training information, details of disciplinary legal action, other states/ countries where licensed, and board certification status. There were inactive licenses that were listed as active in another state’s information.

These incomplete inconsistencies are rather consistent. Do you know about your doctor’s background? Is your doctor properly trained and licensed? Which information is correct?

The American Medical Association (AMA) has a page with links to the state boards for licensing. Check your doctor at http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2645.html. Compare it to the information at “doctor finder” sites. Incomplete inconsistency.

J.L. Richardson, MD is a family medicine doctor and author of "Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide".
http://www.mypatienthandbook.com