title: Cross-Sectional Analysis of the 1039 U.S. Physicians Reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank for Sexual Misconduct, 2003-2013.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little information exists on U.S. physicians who have been disciplined with licensure or restriction-of-clinical-privileges actions or have had malpractice payments because of sexual misconduct. Our objectives were to: (1) determine the number of these physicians and compare their age groups' distribution with that of the general U.S. physician population; (2) compare the type of disciplinary actions taken against these physicians with actions taken against physicians disciplined for other offenses; (3) compare the characteristics and type of injury among victims of these physicians with those of victims in reports for physicians with other offenses in malpractice-payment reports; and (4) determine the percentages of physicians with clinical-privileges or malpractice-payment reports due to sexual misconduct who were not disciplined by medical boards.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of physician reports submitted to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) from January 1, 2003, through September 30, 2013. A total of 1039 physicians had ≥ 1 sexual-misconduct-related reports. The majority (75.6%) had only licensure reports, and 90.1% were 40 or older. For victims in malpractice-payment reports, 87.4% were female, and "emotional injury only" was the predominant type of injury. We found a higher percentage of serious licensure actions and clinical-privileges revocations in sexual-misconduct-related reports than in reports for other offenses (89.0% vs 68.1%, P = < .001, and 29.3% vs 18.8%, P = .002, respectively). Seventy percent of the physicians with a clinical-privileges or malpractice-payment report due to sexual misconduct were not disciplined by medical boards for this problem.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A small number of physicians were reported to the NPDB because of sexual misconduct. It is concerning that a majority of the physicians with a clinical-privileges action or malpractice-payment report due to sexual misconduct were not disciplined by medical boards for this unethical behavior.
authors: Health Research Group, Public Citizen, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America.
authors: Azza
authors: A
authors: AbuDagga
authors: Health Research Group, Public Citizen, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America.
authors: Sidney M
authors: SM
authors: Wolfe
authors: Health Research Group, Public Citizen, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Carome
authors: National Practitioner Data Bank (Retired), Department of Health and Human Services, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America.
authors: Robert E
authors: RE
authors: Oshel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019548:Crime Victims; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016749:National Practitioner Data Bank / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D028743:Professional Misconduct / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult