Medical News

June 15, 2009

Texas Medical Board Disciplines 71 Doctors

Since its April board meeting, the Texas Medical Board has taken disciplinary action against 71 licensed physicians.

The actions included 15 violations based on quality of care; 11 actions based on unprofessional conduct; two nontherapeutic prescribing violations; six agreed orders based on inadequate medical records violations; one action based on impairment due to alcohol or drugs or mental/physical condition; four actions based on other states’ or entity’s actions; one action based on failure to properly supervise or delegate; two actions based on peer review actions; two actions based on violation of probation or prior order; one agreed order modifying a prior order; and five voluntary surrenders. Twenty-one physicians entered into administrative orders for minor statutory violations.

At its May 28-29 meeting, the board issued 526 physician licenses.

June 8, 2009

Victoza for Diabetes: Better Than Byetta?

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A new diabetes drug — to be called Victoza if approved — works better than Byetta, a head-to-head clinical trial shows.

Byetta is the first of the class of type 2 diabetes drugs called GLP-1 analogs. The drug takes advantage of the body’s own signaling system to increase insulin output in response to meals.

Byetta is a popular drug, and it’s helped many patients. But liraglutide — soon to be called Victoza if approved by the FDA — works better, says Lawrence Blonde, MD, director of the diabetes clinical research unit at Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans.

“Our direct comparison study shows patients who took liraglutide once a day had a greater reduction in [average blood sugar levels] at the end of the 26-week study than did [Byetta] twice a day,” according to Blonde . “Obviously, once-a-day injections would be preferred by many patients because of the convenience — and it is not tied to meals. Liraglutide can be taken any time as long as you take it the same time each day.”

May 12, 2009

Texas Medical Board Suspends License of Rodney Dotson, M.D.

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The Texas Medical Board entered an Automatic Suspension Order against Rodney Norman Dotson, M.D., license number D9988, on Monday, May 4, after determining that Dr. Dotson had violated a previous disciplinary order.

The February 8, 2008, Mediated Agreed Order required, among other provisions, that Dr. Dotson take and pass the Special Purpose Examination. The 2008 order also contained a provision that, after a proper hearing, if a Board panel found that Dr. Dotson had violated this term of the 2008 order, his license could be automatically suspended.

May 6, 2009

TMB May 2009 Board Rules Changes

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The following is a summary of the changes effective on May 6, 2009. Click here for the complete board rules.

Chapter 166, Physician Registration, with amendments to §162.2 Continuing Medical Education, would allow members of the Board’s Expert Physician Panel up to 12 hours of formal continuing Medical Education for time actually spent in reviewing standard of care cases and providing a report to the board.

April 15, 2009

Texas Medical Board Subjected to Hearing

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A bill that was the subject of a 5½-hour hearing would sharply curtail the powers of the Texas Medical Board if it becomes law.

Backers argued that it would bring much-needed transparency and provide greater fairness to doctors whom, some say, the board is persecuting. They especially raised concerns about practitioners of alternative medicine and those who treat conditions such as autism.

April 11, 2009

I.Q. Harmed by Epilepsy Drug in Utero

by Dr. Shezad Malik

Pregnant women who took a popular epilepsy drug, also widely used to treat migraines, pain and psychiatric disorders, had children whose I.Q. scores were significantly lower than those whose mothers took a different antiseizure medication, a new study has found.

The drug, valproate, sold generically and under the brand name Depakote, remains the second-most-popular antiseizure medication used for epilepsy, but earlier studies found that use during pregnancy also increased the risk of developmental delays and major malformations.

The risks that other epilepsy drugs may pose are not clear, experts say. While some are likely to be safer than others, there have not been enough studies to guide patients and their doctors. About half of the women who take valproate are not epileptics.

March 29, 2009

Nevada Attorneys Hope to Lift Malpractice Damages Cap

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A congressional study and a national consumer advocacy group found that the health care industry in 2004 had spent millions of dollars exaggerating the malpractice crisis in Nevada and elsewhere in the country.

But the hard-hitting television campaign of five years ago, helped persuade voters to overwhelmingly approve an industry-backed ballot initiative imposing a $350,000 cap on malpractice damages for pain and suffering. Advocates said the intent of the measure, patterned after 1975 tort law changes enacted in California that imposed a $250,000 cap, was to reduce multimillion-dollar verdicts against doctors, which would lower their insurance premiums and reduce health care costs for the public.

March 23, 2009

NY Man With Polio Wins Lawsuit Against Drug Maker

by Dr. Shezad Malik

A Staten Island man stricken with polio has won a multimillion dollar lawsuit against a drug maker, claiming he contracted polio 30 years ago while changing his daughter’s diaper.

Dominick Tenuto was awarded $22.5 million, believed to be one of the highest awards ever on Staten Island.

The lawsuit claims that the oral vaccine Tenuto’s daughter received, which contained a live virus, passed through her body and infected Tenuto while he was changing her diaper.

March 9, 2009

Texas Medical Board March 2009 Board Rules Changes

by Dr. Shezad Malik

The following is a summary of the changes effective on March 9, 2009.

Click here for the complete board rules.

Chapter 162, Supervision of Medical School and Physician Assistant Student, with amendments to §162.1, Supervision of Medical Students, provides for the supervision of a medical student who is not enrolled at a Texas medical school as a full-time student or visiting student.

Chapter 171, Postgraduate Training Permits, repeals §171.7, Inactive Status, repeals a provision that recognizes an inactive status of a physician in training permit.

February 10, 2009

F.D.A. to Restrict Prescriptions of Narcotics

by Dr. Shezad Malik

According to federal drug officials, many doctors may lose their ability to prescribe 24 popular narcotics as part of a new effort to reduce the deaths and injuries that result from these medications inappropriate use.

A new control program will result in restrictions on the prescribing, dispensing and distribution of extended-release opioids like OxyContin, fentanyl patches, methadone tablets and some morphine tablets.