Audit finds MA doctors' criminal cases go unreported

Massachusetts courts routinely fail to report doctors facing criminal charges to the board that oversees physician discipline, sometimes leaving regulators and the public in the dark, a state audit released Tuesday found. State courts reported just two doctors to the Board of Registration in Medicine between 2002 and 2012, the audit found. But when state Auditor Suzanne Bump's staff searched criminal records, it found 84 active physicians during the same period with felony or serious misdemeanor convictions, or "continuations without a finding.'' The law requires the courts to report all such cases to the medical board, which considers whether they warrant board action and, in certain instances, posts the information on its website.