The Texas Medical Board (“Board”) began prosecuting our Client, G.V., M.D., after he self-reported an arrest which occurred on Christmas of 2015. The arrest was purportedly based on driving while intoxicated, but there were a number of acts committed by the charging police department, which called the integrity of their claims into question.
After receiving the self-report, the Board ran a drag-net, searching for further bases to prosecute our Client. The Board found records, suggesting that our Client had been improperly prescribing medications to his wife. While G.V.’s criminal attorney worked to secure a dismissal, based on an utter lack of evidence (chain of custody was non-existent for blood sample, which took a month to arrive at the lab, and dash video of the field sobriety test, which would have exculpated our Client, was conspicuously missing), we explained the Board that our Client was engaged in a successful regimen of collaborative medicine; he did not write the original prescriptions, but, rather, issued refills, with the full knowledge and consent of the original prescribers.
After G.V.’s attorney secured a dismissal of the criminal charges, we convinced the Board to take non-disciplinary action. Instead of the severe discipline originally proposed by the Board, G.V. need only to enroll in continuing education courses related to proper prescribing practices and pay a fine.