Md. medical board learning about background checks

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Maryland Board of Physicians is learning about criminal background checks. Wednesday's meeting agenda in Baltimore includes a presentation from the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services division. The agency would check the records of Maryland medical license applicants if the state medical board decides to require background checks. The board plans to ask next year's General Assembly for the authority to require background checks. That decision followed the revelation last spring that an Allegany County physician, William Dando, obtained a Maryland license in 1996 despite his conviction and imprisonment for raping a woman at gunpoint in Florida nine years earlier. Dando surrendered his Maryland license last month. State officials say they expect to release a report by early November on the procedures that allowed Dando to be licensed. Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or