Washington ? More than 100 federal government doctors have been convicted of crimes or disciplined by state medical boards, including one physician now treating veterans who was convicted of helping a terrorist group, an Associated Press review of medical licenses has found.

Federal agencies are required to check the backgrounds of doctors they employ but are not prohibited from hiring those with criminal records, revoked licenses or medical punishments.

All a doctor needs is a medical license valid in one state to get a government job.

Dr. Suzy Melkonian, who is paid $48 an hour as a blood cancer specialist at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Los Angeles, was convicted 21 years ago in Switzerland of extorting money for a group that staged terrorist bombings and assassinations.

Melkonian was reprimanded five years ago by California for failing to disclose her Swiss conviction when applying for a medical license.

Despite Melkonian’s conviction, VA managers believed her training and patient care were good and “she’d be a qualified member of our staff,” said Dr. Dean Norman, chief of staff for the Los Angeles VA hospital.

An AP review of medical board disciplinary records identified at least 118 federal doctors who have worked for the government in the past two years who were convicted of crimes or punished by state authorities for offenses ranging from sex and drug abuse to incompetence.

Three of those doctors have been fired in recent months, including one whose conviction for attempted child molestation should have legally barred him from getting his job, and two who had relapses of conduct that prompted earlier punishments.

In all, 0.5 percent of the more than 20,800 doctors employed by the government have been convicted of crimes or punished, the records showed. Nationally, the rate is 2.6 percent.

But advocates say the government’s choice of doctors should be better than the public at large, particularly because federal physicians serve the vulnerable, the underprivileged and those who fought to keep the country safe.

“How many times do we have to get screwed over? Nobody seems to care all that much,” said Sherri Siegle, a Choctaw nurse who worked for the Indian Health Service. Siegle said she checked the backgrounds of doctors at her Oklahoma hospital after seeing them make mistakes, and found several who had been previously punished.

Punished federal physicians have treated veterans, soldiers, American Indians, astronauts and federal prisoners. They also have researched drug safety, investigated new addiction treatments and acted as agency medical advisers.

They include:

l At least five reprimanded for neglecting patients who died.

l Eleven convicted criminals, including doctors who ordered child pornography, defrauded Medicaid and stole drugs from the VA.

l Eighteen punished for sexual misconduct, including a doctor disciplined for having sex with five patients.

l Thirty-seven punished for drug violations, including three whose drug use forced them to leave surgeries and three federal prison doctors who now treat prisoners for drug abuse and other ailments.

The majority 75 work for the VA, the largest federal health care agency. Other agencies employing the doctors: Indian Health Service: 15; Department of Defense civilian: six; Food and Drug Administration: six; Bureau of Prisons: five; Department of Health and Human Services: four; National Institutes of Health: three; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: two; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, one, and Environmental Protection Agency: one.

Some veterans’ groups want VA Secretary Anthony Principi to investigate. “If this is true and these are some serious allegations I assume the secretary will do something about it,” said Dick Flanagan, a spokesman for the group AMVETS.