WHAT HEELS: Board Certifications Tossed Overboard In Cheating Scandal
In the wake of a professional scandal involving 139 doctors who allegedly cheated on the American Board of Internal Medicine’s certification exams, the organization is filing lawsuits against five doctors who leaked questions to test-prep firm Arora Board Review, and will sanction the others for ethical breaches, reports The Wall Street Journal:
In suits filed … in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the ABIM alleges that five physicians infringed the organization's copyright on test questions. The suits also accuse them of misappropriating trade secrets and breach of contract.
The ABIM is seeking monetary and injunctive relief, and says each doctor's conduct has cost it more than $75,000 given the complex and lengthy process involved in developing its test questions.
The group, which certifies internal-medicine specialists and sub-specialists, is sanctioning the five physicians named in the complaints as well as 134 others for what it deemed ethical breaches involving the disclosure of test questions - which aren't supposed to be repeated, copied or reproduced. Test-takers are told of the policy when they register and, before taking the exam, electronically sign a pledge agreeing not to reveal questions.
Sanctions range from one-year suspensions of board certification to having it yanked indefinitely, depending on the offense. Doctors who want to apply for recertification will have to take the test again. Doctors' change in status will immediately be reflected in their listing on the ABIM's website.
Doctors who took the Arora course but weren't sanctioned or sued will get letters of reprimand, the ABIM said.
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