For the second time in a year, a state board has suspended the license of a doctor accused of conspiring to illegally distribute pain medicine in Little Rock after it received information indicating she violated an earlier order.
The Arkansas State Medical Board initially suspended the license of Felicie Wyatt in May, after she was charged in federal court with conspiring with other workers at KJ Medical Clinic in west Little Rock to distribute hydrocodone and other pain medications without an "effective" prescription.
The charges stemmed from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that also resulted in charges against about 280 other people, including 140 in Arkansas.
Wyatt is set for trial in the case in federal court in Little Rock on June 27.
In an August consent order, the Arkansas medical board lifted Wyatt's suspension on the condition that she write prescriptions only for hospital patients.
The board's action at that time came after Wyatt said the suspension had prevented her from doing her job at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Jackson, Miss.
Wyatt also referred to a May 28 order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe that requires her to "continue or actively seek employment" as a condition of remaining free while awaiting trial.
In an order dated April 14, medical board Chairman Joseph Beck said the board was told that Wyatt had written prescriptions in an outpatient setting to patients in Mobile, Ala.
Wyatt also violated the August order by not responding to a request for records related to the prescriptions, Beck said in this month's order.
The suspension took effect Thursday after Wyatt was served with the latest order.
The case is set for a hearing before the medical board on June 9.
Jerry Reifeiss, who also worked at KJ Medical Clinic, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of conspiring to distribute hydrocodone and other controlled substances by issuing fake prescriptions. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million when he is sentenced at a later date.
Wyatt, who lived in Memphis when she was indicted last year, was the supervising physician for physician assistant Aaron Borengasser, who also faces charges in the criminal case.
Borengasser and Anthony King, who owned KJ Medical Clinic, also are set for trial June 27, along with several other defendants.
Larry Dixon, director of the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, said the Alabama Medical Licensure Commission will wait until the Arkansas medical board case is resolved before deciding whether to take action on Wyatt's license in Alabama.
Metro on 04/22/2016