WASHINGTON, DC — North Carolina is one of seven states that

provides a complete history

of sanctions against doctors, but a consumer group says that kind of information is hard to find.

Public Citizen says state medical boards are providing a mishmash of information to patients struggling to tell if they've chosen a competent doctor.

The group ranked Web sites that provide information about a state's physicians. It says the Louisiana and North Dakota Web sites are the worst for failing to provide anything more than names of doctors who had been disciplined.

Worse, the group says Web sites for Montana and South Dakota don't list any information about disciplinary actions.

The rankings come as the Federation for State Medical Boards report that regulators issued 4,662 disciplinary actions against the nation's doctors last year, up from the previous year.