Database To Detail Doctors' Records

"The speed of enforcement has increased and, I believe, the number of enforcements," said Frederick Finelli, a surgeon at Washington Hospital Center and chairman of the medical board.

In part, that is due to increased staffing and nearly $500,000 more in funding that Catania and other officials got through that year. The Medical Malpractice Amendment Act of 2006, which passed early this month, aims to ensure the board has adequate investigatory and legal assistance.

"The fact that the Board of Medicine worked at all has been a tribute to the people on it," Catania said after the act's unanimous passage on a voice vote. He minimized the medical and hospital groups' reactions, saying their members are adequately protected, and stressed the benefit to the public.

Some people believe the council could have taken even more steps.

"D.C. is still ranked way toward the bottom," said physician Sidney Wolfe, who directs Public Citizen's Health Research Group. From 2003 to 2005 the District took "serious actions" against the equivalent of 2.58 per 1,000 licensed doctors. That was a little less often than in Virginia, though more often than in Maryland. The top states, including Kentucky, Ohio and Arizona, had rates two to four times as great, Public Citizen's figures show.

Yet over the years, Wolfe has seen oversight boards in numerous states "that have gone from terrible to good." Armed with increased resources and information, the District's should, too, he said.

"There is no reason why D.C. shouldn't start disciplining more doctors," Wolfe said.

The legislation also provides for some regulation of malpractice insurance rates to help hold down excessive increases and requires 90-day notification and mediation in medical malpractice lawsuits.