SPECIAL REPORT | Bad Medicine

BALTIMORE - You trust them with your life.  And they take an oath to protect it, swearing to do no harm.  But what about the doctors who break that promise? 

Maryland Health Secretary Doctor Joshua Sharfstein says, "The vast majority of doctors in Maryland don't have any disciplinary problems."  Yet among the more than 18,000 practicing Maryland doctors, there are a handful that do have problems.

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Records show there’s a small minority who've been forced by the Maryland Board of Physicians to take off the white coat after abusing booze and illegal drugs or overprescribing dangerous, addictive pills. 

Some molested patients and others allegedly played a role in deaths. 

With findings so serious, you'd expect swift justice.  Maryland Delegate Wade Kach does. 

He says, "It seems to me that the Board of Physicians, with their resources, should be able to in and weed the bad apples out."  But we've discovered some cases rotting in limbo, taking months or even years to resolve.