Fines & Sanctions

Med Board Reprimands, Fines Doctors

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The state Medical Examining Board on Tuesday reprimanded a Litchfield physician for his abuse of alcohol and violating professional boundaries with an office employee. In unrelated cases Tuesday, the board also fined two doctors and a physician assistant and reprimanded a Rhode Island doctor who has a license to practice in Connecticut. In the Litchfield case, Dr. James O’Halloran III was also reprimanded for prescribing controlled substances for five patients without adequate documentation or safeguards, according to a consent order approved by the board Tuesday. O’Halloran works full-time for the state Department of Correction, but these actions took place in his private practice, the consent order said. In 2014, he had a personal relationship with an employee and his prescription pad was stolen, David Tilles, a staff attorney for the state Department of Public Health, told the board.

Connecticut Medical Examining Board

Med Board Reprimands Doc Involved In Insurance Fraud Case, Fines Others

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A Monroe doctor who avoided prison time last year for his role in an extensive insurance fraud scheme was reprimanded Tuesday by the state Medical Examining Board. The board also decided that Dr. James W. Marshall Jr., 60, who lives in Orange, will have his medical license placed on probation for six months if he renews his registration to prescribe controlled substances. He voluntarily surrendered that registration in 2011 after he was implicated in “Operation Running Man,” a 14-month undercover investigation of auto insurance fraud conducted by the FBI. A hearing panel of the Medical Examining Board concluded that Marshall, who operates Immediate Medical Care in Monroe, prescribed painkillers such as Vicodin and Percocet 145 times for 75 patients when they were not his patients and he had not examined them, according to the board’s memorandum of decision. Marshall believed the patients had been injured in car accidents, the memo said.

Fines & Sanctions

Two Doctors Fined For Failing To Meet The Standard Of Patient Care

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The state Medical Examining Board on Tuesday fined a former Brookfield primary care doctor $4,000 and placed his license on probation for three months for failing to make a timely diagnosis of pancreatic cancer for a man who died months later. The board also fined a Milford gynecologist $5,000 and reprimanded her for failing to meet the standard of care by not examining a patient who had severe lower abdominal pain. It turned out the woman’s ovary was twisted and it was removed during emergency surgery two days later, state records show. In the Brookfield case, Dr. Robert Jarrett – who now practices in a cardiology group at Danbury Hospital – was alerted that a CT scan in December 2011 showed the patient had potential malignancies in his pancreas and liver, state records show. Though Jarrett and his physician assistant continued to see the man for nine more months, Jarrett did not follow up with the radiologist or order more tests to determine if the patient had cancer, records show.

Fines & Sanctions

Doctor Fined For Unknowingly Removing Uterus Of Pregnant Woman

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A prominent Waterbury gynecologist was fined $5,000 by the state Medical Examining Board Tuesday for mistakenly performing a laparoscopic hysterectomy on a patient who he did not know was pregnant, state records show. In January 2011, Dr. Jonathan Foster, who is also an obstetrician, failed to detect the patient’s pregnancy before the operation, according to a consent order he signed in July agreeing to the punishment. He also relied on the patient’s statement that she was not pregnant and failed to follow-up a urine pregnancy test with a blood test or ultrasound before operating, the order said. State records do not indicate how far along the pregnancy was. After the incident, Foster completed a course to maintain his certification in his specialty.

Fines & Sanctions

Derby Pain Clinic Medical Director Fined $7,500 By Med Board

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The medical director of a pain clinic in Derby was reprimanded and fined $7,500 on Tuesday by the state Medical Examining Board for writing prescriptions for patients based on assessments of their appearance or behavior conducted by unlicensed medical assistants. Dr. Mark Thimineur, medical director of the privately run Comprehensive Pain & Headache Treatment Centers, LLC, housed at Griffin Hospital, signed a consent order on June 1 agreeing to the punishment. In the order, he did not contest the findings by the board and the state Department of Public Health. The consent order states that from 2011 to the present, Thimineur failed to meet the standard of care when treating one or more patients for chronic pain. It said he wrote prescriptions for patients based on assessments by unlicensed medical assistants of the patients’ physical appearance, behavior, pain levels or lab test results.

Fines & Sanctions

Med Board Drops Charges Against Doctor, Fines Others

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The state Medical Examining Board on Tuesday withdrew charges that a Putnam gynecologist had inappropriate physical and sexual contact with a patient because the doctor has agreed to stop practicing medicine. Dr. Ronald Archibold voluntarily agreed on Dec. 31 not to seek to renew or reinstate his expired medical license, state Department of Public Health records show. In doing so, Archibold did not admit wrongdoing but agreed that if he ever sought to renew his license, he would not contest the charges. DPH’s charges stated that Archibold engaged in the inappropriate conduct on more than one occasion when providing care to a patient between August 2008 and October 2011.

Fines & Sanctions

Medical Board Fines Psychiatrist, Suspends Doctor’s License For 20 Years

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The state Medical Examining Board on Tuesday fined a Milford psychiatrist $15,000 for sending personal texts to a patient and suspended a Watertown doctor’s medical license for 20 years for violating her probation. In addition to the fine, the psychiatrist, Dr. Ljudmil Kljusev, was reprimanded for inviting the female patient in 2007 to meet him at a restaurant, for sending her personal texts and for calling her “Sweety,” state records show. The board considered the behavior a violation of professional boundaries. The same patient claimed that Kljusev also made sexual advances to her, but the medical board dismissed that portion of the complaint as unfounded, Diane Wilan, a state Department of Public Health lawyer, said Tuesday. DPH had also investigated a complaint from another of Kljusev’s patients who said that in 2009, she went to see him at 7:30 p.m. and found his office filled with lit candles, and that he was holding a beer in one hand and then lit a cigar, records show.

Fines & Sanctions

Ophthalmologist Fined By Medical Board

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A Stamford ophthalmologist was fined $4,500 Tuesday by the state Medical Examining Board for performing a laser treatment on the wrong eye of a glaucoma patient. Dr. Gregory Gallousis performed the procedure in 2012 on the right eye of a glaucoma patient instead of the left eye, state Department of Public Health records show. The patient was supposed to have surgery on both eyes, but not on the same day, Matthew Antonetti, a principal attorney for DPH, told the board. Gallousis agreed to the fine by signing a consent order with the state. On Tuesday, the board rejected a consent order that would have fined Dr. Alkesh Patel of Southington $5,000 and reprimanded him for prescribing large amounts of the painkiller Dilaudid in 2012 for his wife, an employee and a patient, state records show.

Fines & Sanctions

Physician Sanctioned For Wrongly Accusing Teen’s Father

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After twice sending the case back to a review panel for further sanctions, the state Medical Examining Board last month accepted a memorandum of decision that imposes probation on a Watertown doctor for making a false accusation against a patient’s father to state child protection authorities. Under the consent order approved by the board, Dr. Mary Jane Brackett is required to complete a health department-approved medical ethics course and record-keeping course and pay a $1,000 fine. The board also placed Brackett’s medical license on probation for six months and required her to hire another doctor to monitor the records of at least five patients for three months, and to take a class with the state Department of Children and Families on mandatory reporting guidelines. At the board’s June and September meetings, members argued that the proposed punishment was too lenient, twice sending the matter back to a review panel. Last month, despite members of the review panel saying an ethics course would not make a difference, the full board asked that a mandatory ethics course be added to the sanctions.