Three States, Two Professions, Same Results
Another recent California disbarment reported in the California Bar Journal involves a Texas attorney who also practiced psychiatry
From the recommendation of the State Bar Court Hearing Department
Between February 1, 1981 and August 28, 2015, respondent was a board licensed psychiatrist in Texas, license no. F-9026.
In 2010, the DEA, while monitoring the prescription writing habits of numerous doctors statewide, focused on respondent based on complaints by local pharmacies that respondent was writing an inordinate number of prescriptions for pain- treatment narcotics and other controlled substances that were not related to medical specialty as a psychiatrist.
He wrote prescriptions for two undercover DEA agents where there was “no medical need” to do so.
The attorney was subject to discipline by the Texas Medical Board on a variety of issues and a series of criminal indictments in Texas for a variety of alleged crimes.
He twice was criminally charged with sexual assault on a patient. The prescription writing led to a felony conviction.
These actions were not reported to California authorities as required by rule.
The State Bar Court Review Department concluded that the misconduct as a Texas psychiatrist merited disbarment notwithstanding his 34 years of discipline-free legal career.
Information on his Texas resignation can be found here.
DailyTrib.com had the story of his losing his Texas medical license.
And to complete the coast-to-coast reverberations, we have a 2015 decision of the New York Supreme Court on his medical license revocation there.
Petitioner, a board-certified psychiatrist, resides in Texas but has been licensed to practice medicine in New York since 1967. In February 2013, the Bureau of Professional Medical Conduct initiated a referral proceeding against petitioner based upon disciplinary actions taken against him in Texas. Specifically, the Texas Medical Board found in 2009 that petitioner had engaged in a sexual relationship with a patient. Pursuant to an agreed order, petitioner was publicly reprimanded for his conduct and directed to both successfully complete a course in professional boundaries and pay an administrative penalty of $3,000. The Texas Medical Board further found in 2011 that petitioner had failed to maintain adequate medical records for four of his patients, and he consented to an order directing him to successfully complete continuing medical education courses related to medical recordkeeping…
Turning to the issue of the penalty imposed, “the refusal to accept responsibility for prior wrongful conduct is a significant factor in assessing an appropriate penalty,” and the record reflects that the ARB appropriately considered that issue in deciding to revoke petitioner’s license (Matter of Celestin v. Novello, 43 AD3d 545, 546 [2007] ). Moreover, this Court has repeatedly held that the penalty of license revocation is appropriate in cases where a physician engages in sexual misconduct, and we do not find its imposition here to be “so incommensurate with the offense as to shock one’s sense of fairness” (Matter of D’Amico v. Commissioner of Educ. of State of N.Y., 167 A.D.2d 769, 771 [1990]; accord Matter of Singh v. New York State Dept. of Health Bd. of Professional Med. Conduct, 74 AD3d at 1393).
(Mike Frisch)