Doctor’s sanctions suspended by court

Sherwood pain specialist appealing Arkansas State Medical Board ruling

A Pulaski County circuit judge on Wednesday suspended Arkansas State Medical Board-imposed sanctions against a Sherwood doctor until the judge can determine whether the penalties are warranted.

Judge Wendell Griffen said he hoped to resolve Dr. Mahmood Ahmad’s appeal of the board’s June reprimand within four months at most.

The 14-member medical board decided after a two-day hearing in June that Ahmad, a pain-medication specialist who operates United Pain Care clinic in Sherwood, had violated the state’s Medical Practices Act and board regulations by excessively prescribing potentially addictive medications to seven patients not suffering from terminal disease without conducting the proper monitoring and keeping the required records.

Ahmad, 49, was fined $7,000, ordered to pay theboard’s expenses of $14,115 for the investigation and hearing, and submit to an audit of his records within six months. The board also ordered him to undergo training in record keeping, prescription practices and appropriate boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship.

Ahmad’s attorney, Tim Dudley, asked Griffen to maintain the “status quo” for the physician until his appeal is resolved, while the medical board’s attorney, Kevin O’Dwyer, argued that Griffen did not need to consider the effects of the sanctions because there is no requirement that Ahmad immediately comply. He asked the judge to give weight to the board’s ability to interpret the laws and rules that it enforces.

But with Ahmad claiming that the board violated his constitutional right to due process, the judge said he felt compelled to stay the sanctions immediately until he can conduct a hearing on the accusations. Allegationsof constitutional violations are “entitled to judicial respect,” Griffen said.

“I’ve got to give the complaint … a certain amount of deference. My concern is, I’m not allowed to disregard the allegations simply because the agency has made an order,” he said. “If I don’t grant a stay here, I’m not really sure what good a petition for review is.”

The judge also quashed a board subpoena for the records of 10 more Ahmad patients, ruling that the board must wait until Ahmad’s case is concluded before resuming any investigation of his practice.

Ahmad’s attorney had complained that the board’s effort to obtain those records seemed to be vindictive, saying a board investigator interrupted the doctor’s practice, while he had 48 patients waiting, to demand that Ahmad stop whatever he was doing and provide the requested records. In court filings, Dudley described the demand and the manner itwas made as harassing, “unreasonable and oppressive” and a “fishing expedition.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 12/07/2013

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