Dr. Barry Bender, the Tyrone Doctor who came under fire recently after being accused by the state attorney general’s office of criminal activity involving young boys, has been named on a list of doctors disciplined by the state’s Medical board.
The list appears on a database provided by the non profit organization, Public Citizen.
The list is available on a website known as www.questionabledoctors.org. The study covered the period from 1992 to 2001 and revealed that more than 1,100 physicians had been disciplined during that time and only 38 were disciplined for substandard care or negligence.
In Dr. Bender’s case, he was cited for professional misconduct. Bender was cited back in November of 2000 and was sanctioned with a 24-month license suspension. The website revealed that the suspension came as a result of charges of immoral conduct.
Earlier this month, Bender agreed to a plea bargain regarding accusations of holding parties and trading alcohol and drugs with underage boys in return for sexual favors. Barry Bender pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary sexual deviate intercourse as well as other charges. In return, the state dropped more than 30 other charges against the 56-year-old physician. Bender is now facing 10 to 20 years in prison. He’ll face sentencing before Judge Dan Million no later than December 20th.
Bender agreed to the plea bargain after it became apparent that 25 to 30 people were ready to testify against him in the case, according to the attorney general’s office.
Doctor Bender also faced the prospect of another man involved in the case, 30-year-old Gilbert Stevenson of Avis, testifying against him. Stevenson pled guilty in March to a number of charges in return for the dropping of more serious charges which included the sexual exploitation of children. Stevenson agreed to assist the state in their case against Bender by agreeing to testify against him. Prosecutors have held off on sentencing Stevenson until the case against Bender was completed. While Stevenson could face more than 200 years in prison, it’s more likely charges will be stacked on top of each other and he’ll receive a sentence in the twenty year range.
The Public Citizen study showed that most of the practitioners on the list, like Dr. Bender, had been cited for reasons other than substandard care or negligence. Most had been cited for criminal convictions, sexual misconduct, abusing drugs or alcohol, or failing to tell the state about other disciplinary actions filed in other states. Public Citizen’s biggest concern appears to be that some doctors have not been disciplined at all for negligent practices and would not be allowed to practice in other states.
For example, Arizona, with far fewer doctors, cited seven times as many doctors for substandard care or negligent practice than did Pennsylvania. The commonwealth ranked 43rd among all states in the study.
The watchdog group is concerned about the way Pennsylvania conducts it’s disciplinary system which is a patient complaint based. Public Citizen faced obstacles when trying to obtain information and even had to sue the Justice Department to obtain public records of DEA enforcement actions against physicians who had their license revoked.
The group believes the state must devote more time and money in the form of investigators regarding incompetent doctors who have a lengthy record of problems in malpractice cases.
