Check out your doctor, veterinarian, dentist or other practitioner through the Virginia Department of Health Professions at (804) 662-9900 or online at www.vipnet.org/dhp/cgi-bin/search_publicdb.cgi.
Learn more about doctors, osteopaths and podiatrists from the Virginia Board of Medicine at (804) 662-9908 or www.vahealthprovider.com.
Verify whether your doctor is board-certified at the American Board of Medical Specialties, www.abms.org.
Criminal charges and civil lawsuits can be viewed at the Virginia Courts Case Information site: 208.210.219.132/courtinfo/vacircuit/select.jsp?court. Although the site provides case numbers for lawsuits, it doesn’t provide copies of lawsuits, which can be obtained at the courthouse. Not all city or county courts are online.
Read case decisions from the past 90 days for 14 health boards, including nursing, dentistry and pharmacy, at the Department of Health Professions, www.dhp.state.va.us.
Read decisions from the Workers’ Compensation Commission about Virginia’s birth-injury fund at www.vwc.state.va.us/index.htm.
Search Virginia’s state sex offender registry at http://sex-offender.vsp. state.va.us. Search sex offender registries across the country at www.klaaskids.org/pg-legmeg.htm.
Check out Public Citizen’s list of physicians (for a fee) at www.questionabledoctors.org.
For more on filing complaints, researching health providers and learning more about how you can take action, visit www.styleweekly.com.
