professional licenses

Reporters can locate records on doctors online nationally through the American Medical Association and through state medical associations.

American Medical Association

The American Medical Association has a website for looking up information on doctors who are AMA members (not all doctors are members of teh AMA). Go to:

DoctorFinder

After entering the verification code, at the new page, click on the icon for Patients.

At the new page click on the Doctor Finder link, then type in the name of the doctor and specify the state where he/she practices. If there's no listing, try clicking on the View nonmember physicians button.

State Medical Boards

Many state medical boards put directories of licensed physicians and in some cases notices about disciplinary actions on their websites.

The Federation of State Medical Boards has a list of state medical board websites:

FSMB Directory of State Medical Boards

California Medical Board

The California Medical Board licenses doctors in California. Its website includes a search engine for locating doctors by name. Go to:

Physician License Lookup

To access the searchable database click on the Check Your Doctor Online icon on the left.

The doctors' records include notations of any disciplinary action taken against a doctor.