Credentialing & Privileging

Physician with long history of misconduct finally caught by authorities

Credentialing Resource Center Connection , October 22, 2009

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Credentialing Resource Center Connection !

Despite being fired from three hospitals, Michael Roy Sharpe, MD, was never disciplined by a state medical board. He worked in a series of hospitals in Tennessee and Alabama, until recently when accusations of having sex with a 15 year-old patient led him to voluntarily give up his medical license, according to an October 12 Tennessean.com article.

Citing confidentiality rules, Tennessee health officials declined to comment on any investigations they may have conducted about Sharpe. However, Alabama medical licensing officials said Sharpe’s hospital firings weren’t listed in a federal physician databank.

It’s a scenario that happens when medical staffs don’t carry out a thorough disciplinary process, says Ilene Corina, founder of PULSE New York, a patient advocacy group. “It is too much trouble to go through the discipline process and I am pretty sure that like in many jobs, [doctors] are asked to resign quietly and give up their license, giving them the opportunity to get licensed in another state,” she was quoted in the article as saying.



Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Credentialing Resource Center Connection !

Most Popular

Related Articles