Sources & questions
Use the record that answers your question.
To check a doctor, read the state's doctor licence record. For a medicine, look for government information about that exact product.
Words, unpacked
Evidence is the information used to support an answer. A public record is information made available for people to check.
For a doctor: read the state's licence record
A medical board is the state office that gives doctors licences, meaning permission to practise.
Public discipline means action the board has made public against a doctor.
A doctor's licence status and history of public disciplinary action are published by state medical boards, as of September 17, 2026.
Finding no public action against a doctor in the record gives you no rating of their care quality.
- Check the full name, licence status and any limits shown.
- Use the record to prepare a question, not to rank doctors.
For a medicine: separate the product from the claim
FDA is short for the US Food and Drug Administration. When a medicine is compounded, a pharmacist or a doctor makes it to order.
Before a compounded medicine goes on sale, FDA performs no review of its safety, quality or effect, as of September 26, 2026.
- Ask which exact product the explanation refers to.
- Ask whether that information is about this product or a ready-made drug.
- Ask which use the doctor is proposing.
For a report: do not treat it as proof of cause
A medicine-problem report by itself cannot establish that the drug was the cause, FDA explains, as of September 17, 2026.
Those reports do not measure how frequently the problem occurs, either.
A report can prompt a question. Ask what else helps answer it.
- What was reported, and for which exact product?
- Has anyone shown that this medicine caused the problem? What information supports that answer?
Take these questions into the conversation
Keep the questions that fit your reason for care. The health professional who assesses you is your clinician. Leave room to write the answer in your own words.
- What problem are we assessing?
- What other options could address it?
- Why this exact medicine and form?
- Which pharmacy would make or send it?
- What would I pay for care and for medicine?
- How can I reach the treating clinician with a later question?
- What is the next step if I decide to wait?
If the answer leaves a gap, ask for that part again. There is room to understand before deciding.
