Alexandria

You might think that demonstrating incompetence would be a common reason for the Texas Medical Board to pull a doctor’s license because the TMB is there to protect the public from bad doctors, right?

No, that turns out not to be the case. Incompetence, or ‘failure to meet standard of care’ results in a license restriction or a public reprimand, followed by a requirement that the doctor take and pass continuing medical education classes related to the issue of the complaint and that their practice be monitored for a period of time, typically two years, after which everything is back to normal for the doctor.

What I found through looking at the TMB actions for 2012 is that what will get a license revoked is failure to respond to the Board proceedings. For those doctors that do participate in the proceedings, a procedure is in place known as “Voluntary Suspension”, possibly related to the idea of ‘resign voluntarily or be fired’.

Of the approximately 550 actions taken by the Board in 2012, approximately 50 resulted in a suspension of license. This suggests that more than 90 percent of doctors whose actions were serious enough to warrant action by the board were sent back into practice with a stern warning not to do that sort of thing again.

For those who did lose their license, the most common reason was prescribing narcotics for non-therapeutic use and addiction/alcoholism, almost half the fifty cases.

Details of all license revocations and suspensions in 2012 can be found after the “Continue Reading” hyperlink.

The first part of each entry is the license number of the physician involved followed by a summary or, if in ALL CAPS, a direct quote from the TMB entry for this action.

Full details of each case can be found by referencing the license number  in the License/Permit # field here:

http://reg.tmb.state.tx.us/OnLineVerif/Phys_SearchVerif.asp

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Revoked

J8780 – NONTHERAPEUTIC PRESCRIBING AND EXCESSIVE PRESCRIBING OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES.
K4206 – Prescribing Narcotics – pain managment clinic raided
J7907 – Refused to participate in proceedings original cause, did not report losing privileges at medical center
TP10034004 – tested positive for drugs
M0156 – Did not respond to Board proceedings regarding indictment for distributing child pornography

Suspended by Board

H2003 – Indicted for prescribing controlled substances
E4637 – alcohol abuse
E2801 -  PRESCRIBED SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNTS OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES TO THREE MINOR PATIENTS IN AMOUNTS AND DOSAGES THAT ARE NONTHERAPEUTIC FOR CHILDREN, AND THAT HE ENGAGED IN AN INAPPROPRIATE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH AN ADULT PATIENT, THE MOTHER OF THE CHILDREN.

M8428 – substance abuse
TM00268 – following suspension of license by Maryland Board of Physicians
H9514 -  INABILITY TO PRACTICE MEDICINE WITH REASONABLE SKILL AND SAFETY TO PATIENTS BECAUSE OF DRUNKENNESS.
M0502 – convicted of a felony in California

Voluntary Suspensions

M4857 – failed to follow up on lab report
L9148 – Prescription Fraud
F3570 – non-therepuetic prescription writing
F1548 – inability to practice effectively because of illness
D8389 – non-therepuetic prescription writing
D8195 – made creepy remarks at adolescent patients
D4434 – prescribing drugs for himself
E7302 – inability to practice effectively because of illness, also 81 years old
H3357 – Failure to meet standard of care in four cases. And 75 years old
F6361 – violated previous order, did not cooperate with board, provided false information to board
G0191 – sexual harassing female co-workers
F8724 – writing prescriptions for controlled substances
G6438 – Indicted for sexual assault of a child
H2789 – Driving while intoxicated
J0271 – Drug abuse
G7072 – Alcohol abuse related
L6869 – Self prescribing and writing false prescriptions
C8318 – Did not maintain Continuing Medical Education requirements, also 83 years old
D6870 – Drug or alcohol abuse, also 75 years old
H9455 – Disciplined by Georgia State Board – failure to meet standard of care
J6662 – CONCERNS ABOUT PRESCRIBING PRACTICES AND MEDICAL RECORD-KEEPING
G6995 – Medicare fraud, failure to meet standard of care
G5711 – unprofessional comments and injury that affects ability to practice medicine
C0655 – Retired, 93 years old, hasn’t seen patients in several years, has health problems
E2171 – Health condition
H3757 – Medical limitations, also 67 years old
D8263 -  FAILED TO USE PROPER DILIGENCE IN HIS PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE.
D6231 – Physical health problems, also 76 years old
C6899 – NON-THERAPEUTICALLY PRESCRIBED DRUGS AND ENGAGED IN UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT LIKELY TO INJURE THE PUBLIC.
J9294 – NONTHERAPEUTIC PRESCRIBING
D3245 – health problems, retired since 2007, 71 years old
E5522 -  FAILED TO TREAT A PATIENT ACCORDING TO THE GENERALLY ACCEPTED STANDARD OF CARE. Also 74 years old
G0185 – Disciplined by Arkansas State Medical Board