State considering criminal checks for doctors

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina’s medical licensing board will consider requiring criminal background checks for doctors.

Jim Knight, a spokesman for the state Labor, Licensing and Regulation Department, said a draft of the proposal calls for a change in state law to allow national screening of medical license applicants. South Carolina requires such screening for day-care workers and teachers.

The department’s medical board will consider the proposal in November.

The issue came up last week when investigators discovered a West Columbia physician had failed to report a 1966 felony conviction in Michigan when he applied for a South Carolina medical license. Dr. James M. Shortt was 19 years old when he was convicted of felony switchblade possession. At the time, Shortt was known as James Michael Wideman.

Shortt now is under investigation by medical regulators and police after one of his patient’s died following an alternative medical treatment. Katherine Bibeau, 53, died in March a few days after the first of three planned injections Shortt administered at the Health Dimensions Clinic in West Columbia. Richland County Coroner Gary Watts has ruled her death a homicide. No one has been charged in the case.

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