The AJC on Wednesday began publishing a series of articles on patient sexual abuse by doctors.
These are startling – and terrifying – stories of physician misconduct.
The Atlanta newspaper reviewed more than 100,000 public documents from all 50 states, analyzing thousands of individual cases and interviewing patients, doctors and advocates across the country.
The reporters found more than 3,100 doctors who were publicly disciplined since Jan. 1, 1999 after being accused of sexual infractions.
More than 2,400 were sanctioned for violations that clearly involved patients. Of those, half still have active medical licenses today, the AJC reported.
In Georgia, the AJC found, two-thirds of the doctors disciplined for sexual misconduct were permitted to practice again.
The newspaper’s series includes an article about a Georgia physician who in three different settings, faced allegations that he sexually violated vulnerable female patients.