Is the state medical board watching your on line behavior?

A recent paper reports a survey of state medical boards as to how they would respond to hypothetical scenarios:

 High consensus was defined as more than 75% of respondents indicating that investigation was “likely” or “very likely,” moderate consensus as 50% to 75% indicating this, and low consensus as fewer than 50% indicating this.

Four online vignettes demonstrated high consensus: Citing misleading information about clinical outcomes (81%; 39/48), using patient images without consent (79%; 38/48), misrepresenting credentials (77%; 37/48), and inappropriately contacting patients (77%; 37/48). Three demonstrated moderate consensus for investigation: depicting alcohol intoxication (73%; 35/48), violating patient confidentiality (65%; 31/48), and using discriminatory speech (60%; 29/48). Three demonstrated low consensus: using derogatory speech toward patients (46%; 22/48), showing alcohol use without intoxication (40%; 19/48), and providing clinical narratives without violation of confidentiality (16%; 7/48).