Board Explores Background Checks In Wake Of Former Md. Doctor Convicted Of Rape
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Regulators allowed a doctor to practice in Maryland despite a past rape conviction. His case is now putting a spotlight on the lack of required background checks for all of Maryland's physicians.
Investigator Mike Hellgren has more on the new push to make sure your doctor has a clean past.
The state is still looking into how a doctor who practiced in Baltimore County for years had a rape conviction that slipped through the cracks.
Maryland is one of only 13 states where doctors don't have their criminal backgrounds checked--including fingerprints--a practice that's mandatory for nurses and other professionals.
But the case of Dr. William Dando could change that. When applying for his license, state regulators say Dr. Dando disclosed that he assaulted someone in the past. But regulators claim they did not know he served almost four years behind bars for raping a woman at gunpoint in Florida in 1986.
Despite his rape conviction, the Maryland Board of Physicians granted Dr. Dando a license to practice medicine in Maryland in 1986. And he did, including at an office in Catonsville.
He permanently surrendered that license after he was recently accused of touching a woman's genitals while treating her ear infection. That happened at a clinic in La Vale, near Cumberland. Criminal charges were later dropped.
The board noted on his record that there was a risk of serious harm to public health and is now moving forward with a plan to require doctors have criminal background checks when they apply for a license and periodically thereafter.
"This will become an important piece of our ability to protect the public by doing background checks," said Dr. Devinder Singh, Maryland Board of Physicians.
It will be an issue for the General Assembly in the coming year to make sure no physician slips through the cracks and put Maryland in line with regulations in other states.
Right now in Maryland doctors are required to self-report any arrests or convictions.
The Board of Physicians has yet to say exactly how the background checks would work or how often doctors would be required to undergo them.
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