New York State’s deeply flawed physician disciplinary system lacks the staffing, budget and oversight mechanisms to properly punish doctors who’ve committed misconduct, relying too heavily on physicians to police their colleagues. As a result, Long Islanders have been placed in harm’s way.

An extensive and revealing Newsday investigation into the state’s doctor-focused disciplinary actions — or lack thereof — unveiled disturbing trends: Forty-six Long Island doctors continued to hold unrestricted medical licenses despite criminal convictions, adverse judgments in civil litigation, or legal settlements with patients who claimed they were injured. In some cases, doctors were found liable for committing troubling offenses such as taking kickbacks from a laboratory, fabricating patient records, or illegally distributing opioids.

At times, the state’s physician discipline board, the majority of whose committee members are doctors, went against state Health Department recommendations to revoke licenses.

In one horrifying case, a Merrick pediatrician accused of sexually abusing patients was cleared by a three-member committee in 1987. His license was revoked 13 years later for similar conduct and in 2023, a state civil court awarded $1.6 billion in damages to 104 women. In another, a New Jersey medical board forced a doctor to surrender his license in 2009 after two botched surgeries, but New York’s board allowed him to keep his license. He still teaches medicine in Old Westbury.

Something has to change.

New York is one of just four states that doesn’t require fingerprinting for licensing physicians, and one of three that doesn’t conduct criminal background checks. Those are easy fixes. But the watchdog also seems asleep. The state’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct is underfunded and understaffed, leaving it unable to adequately handle investigations and disciplinary recommendations. When it does make a finding, the next-step monitor is the Board for Professional Medical Conduct, a three-member discipline committee that must include two doctors. State lawmakers should reduce that to one doctor per committee.

That, too, might seem simple. BPMC chairman Thomas T. Lee told Newsday that the system’s priority “is to protect the public.” But he’s also the top official at the state doctors’ leading lobbying group. That’s a problem. How can the public be confident that an unbiased, patient-focused view on physician discipline will be provided? In some cases, the board acknowledges relying more on administrative warnings — a process that falls outside the public eye and does not require discipline.

The state Health Department says it “acts appropriately to protect the health and safety of patients.” But that effort has failed too many times. Reforming the process must be a priority of state officials and lawmakers. That means changing the law to put patients first, and providing the financial resources and an unbiased process to conduct investigations and take disciplinary action when warranted. New York has many caring and dedicated physicians. It’s past time to root the bad ones out.

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