Virginia Doctor Reprimanded for Proscribing Too Much Medication
Posted by
Dan FrithMay 04, 2009 3:23 PMTags:
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Today's blog should not surprise anyone. In my opinion, the pharmaceutical industry and doctors have been in bed together (for their joint financial benefit) for way too long. But here is the story...
A committee of the Virginia Board of Medicine informed Dr. Larry Boulware this month that he is permanently barred from treating chronic-pain patients. The allegations center on events that occurred from 2005 to 2007 while Boulware was medical director at the Colonial Beach (VA) Medical Center. Dr. Boulware was reprimanded for liberally prescribing pain medicines and for failing to keep good records.
Dr. Boulware is alleged to have prescribed narcotics for patients even though he:
Did not have a treatment plan for them.
Did not document why he chose the medicines he did.
Did not monitor their progress on the medicines he prescribed.
Did not require them to sign pain-management contracts, which spell out their responsibilities.
The controlled substances at issue were alprazolam, Ambien, Dalmane, diazepam, Dilaudid, Endocet, flurazepam, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, Lorcet, methadone, oxycodone, Percocet, Valium and Vicodin.
The Best Comment: Comes from Dr. Boulware himself when he said, ""My trip down there (for the hearing before the panel) and the time I spent with them, two hours being grilled, meant nothing. They didn't prove anything other than I'm sloppy." Dr. Boulware currently practices medicine in Fredericksburg, Virginia.