Still, the frustration of McCann and several other PLB members is apparent at meetings in which Anthony has appeared before the board, which must monitor his probation but had no say in designing its terms. His probation requires that Anthony improve his medical skills, but at the February PLB meeting, McCann blasted his efforts.

"You've found people to go to bat for you, but you've not done one thing yourself," McCann told him. "It's not like we're against you. But you're not taking any initiative."

This is the frank discussion you won't find in the sanitized, pared-down newsletter that DOPL publishes quarterly on its Web site. And you won't see those details in DOPL reports.

Even when you pay the $12 for the full DOPL file, mysteries remain. A file may say "voyeuristic conduct" or "delivered infants contrary to established protocols." You may discover a record has been expunged: a limited record of the facts remains, but the stipulation and other documents are gone, no reason given.

In one case, DOPL investigated a physician and filed a petition alleging sexual misconduct, which the doctor denied. Four years later, DOPL dismissed its petition "with prejudice" — it can't be resurrected later — and no disciplinary action was taken. But the documents that provided these details are still available from DOPL, a fact that stuns the physician, who thought they'd disappeared along with the charges.

A patient who stumbles onto the document, as the Deseret Morning News did, has no way of assessing its merit. Should the doctor have been disciplined? Should the file have been destroyed? And why did it take four years, from the time DOPL first filed the petition against the doctor, until it was dismissed?

DOPL declined to talk about the case.

As Dr. Charles Walton, head of the DOPL drug diversion program says, "It's hard to know, literally, what goes on behind closed doors."

He's talking about doctors who do drugs when nobody is looking, who write prescriptions and then steal some of the pills back, who try to keep their addictions a secret from patients and colleagues. But there are other doors, too: behind them sit investigators and lawyers, hospital administrators and insurance company executives — all trying to balance the needs of patients with the needs of the health-care system and the livelihoods of all concerned.

On the other side of those doors sit the patients, both trustful and litigious, grateful and a little wary.

"I'm not sure patients shop that well," says PLB president Sperry. "I'm not sure they're great judges of quality, so unless there's a disaster, I think they pick somebody and ride out the storm."