The National Practitioner Data Bank lists disciplinary actions, practice restrictions and malpractice settlements totaling $25 billion against more than 100,000 doctors -- one out of every six in the country. Hospitals and HMOs can use the data bank to screen out doctors who might pose liability problems. But it is a federal offense to let patients check for doctors who might kill or injure them. At the head of the list are eight doctors who among them have paid 571 malpractice settlements totaling $55.7 million-- and half of them are still practicing.

The American Medical Association, which has fought successfully to keep the data bank closed to the public, argues that malpractice payments are an unfair measure of a doctor's abilities. Physicians fear that knowledge of even the smallest malpractice settlements would scare away patients.

Mike Mcintire and Jack Dolan, Hartford Courant - 4/30/2000