Video: Getting the story despite medical board secrecy

Medical board secrecy required innovative research for national investigation

Video by Ryon Horne

Doctors & Sex Abuse

Last year an AJC investigative reporter detected something alarming about the way Georgia treats doctors who have been disciplined for sexual misconduct with their patients: Two-thirds were permitted to practice again.

Our findings made us wonder whether our state is unusual. We expanded our scope to the rest of the country, and analyzed more than 100,000 medical board orders relating to disciplinary action against doctors since 1999.

We found disturbing news: Georgia isn’t unusual – sexual abuse of patients by doctors occurs far more often than any of us would have expected. Moreover it is shrouded by a system that too often protects doctors from accountability, leaving patients vulnerable.

We uncovered these problems after many months of investigative reporting. Doctors & Sex Abuse is a multimedia project that shares what we’ve learned. Our goal for this project is that it will lead to solutions that benefit the public.

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution welcomes its readers to share their thoughts about this series, Doctors & Sex Abuse. If you’d prefer to call, you can reach us at 404-526-5370.

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