TERRE HAUTE —
The Indiana Medical Licensing Board has suspended the medical license of Dr. Henry Davis of Terre Haute.
A petition for summary suspension of his license was filed June 25 by the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, and it was granted June 28 by the licensing board.
The petition states that an ongoing investigation by the Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Vigo County Drug Task Force revealed that Davis’ prescriptions of controlled substances “are extremely high in quantities.”
The suspension is in effect for 90 days — until Sept. 26, said Erin Reece, public information officer for the attorney general’s office.
Davis did not return a message left by the Tribune-Star with his answering service Friday.
“Generally speaking,” Reece explained, “a summary suspension allows us to pursue our investigation while preventing an individual from practicing. The results of an investigation will determine if our office files an administrative complaint with the appropriate board. The board determines whether any violation occurred — and if so, what disciplinary action to impose.”
The emergency suspension gives the state time to draft a formal complaint and bring it to the medical licensing board, which next meets Sept. 27. Reece said that if a complaint is not prepared in time for that board meeting, an extension of the suspension can be requested.
Davis’ prescribing practice came under scrutiny of the drug task force after the arrest of a woman for dealing in controlled substances. According to the petition, the woman was a patient of Davis from January 2008 to February 2011, and she received about 104 prescriptions from both Davis and his nurse.
The petition states that the task force suspected that the female patient sold drugs to a Vermillion County resident who died of accidental pharmacological intoxication on Dec. 7, 2010.
Since 2008, there have been several patients of Davis who have died from pharmacological intoxication-related deaths, the petition states, including a 31-year-old woman on Oct. 21, 2009; a 25-year-old woman on July 4, 2009; a 37-year-old woman on Feb. 23, 2008; a 51-year-old woman on Nov. 14, 2010; and a 38-year-old man on Nov. 17, 2008, from blunt force trauma in an auto accident. A medical report listed mixed drug intoxication as a contributing factor in the auto accident.
The petition also states that a medical review of a selected group of patient records revealed that Davis’ choices in prescribing pain medications with other sedating agents were “exuberant and clinically inappropriate.” It also alleges that Davis prescribed controlled substances with insufficient clinical diagnosis and no specific documentation as to the rationale and that patient self-report appears to be the only criteria for continuation of narcotic prescriptions.
Physical therapy was rarely used, the petition states, and there was never an indication that Davis considered multidisciplinary pain management or referral to a pain-management physician. Patient records show there were almost never second opinions, referrals to orthopedics, psychiatry or pain management, the complaint says.
The petition concludes that “if allowed to continue to practice as a licensed physician, [Davis] represents a clear and immediate danger to the public health and safety.”
In late March, several law enforcement agencies and the state attorney general’s office conducted a search of Davis’ office at the Providence Medical Group in the 2700 block of South Seventh Street.
Witnesses reported that several boxes of files were removed from the doctor’s office.
According to state’s online licensing website, Davis’s physician endorsement was issued Jan. 25. 1996, and is due to expire June 30, 2013.
Reporter Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @TribStarLisa.
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