Bill Would Require Background Checks For Md. Doctors

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Maryland doctors would undergo criminal background checks and be continuously monitored under legislation the state medical licensing board plans to propose next year.

The Board of Physicians released a draft of the bill Thursday. It would require fingerprinting and a one-time background check for license applicants and doctors seeking to renew their licenses.

Once they are in the system, any new criminal activity would trigger an alert to regulators by the state and the federal Criminal Justice Information Services.

The proposal follows the revelation last spring that an Allegany County physician, William Dando, obtained a Maryland license in 1996 despite his imprisonment for raping a woman at gunpoint in Florida nine years earlier.

Dando surrendered his Maryland license in September to resolve charges he molested a female patient in April.

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