Dr. Mark Greenawald, a chairman of the department of family medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and the director of medical student education at Carilion Clinic, supposedly violated standards for prescribing controlled substances to two patients.  He had allegedly improperly prescribed two versions of the sleep drug, Ambien.  Dr. Greenawald is now being required to complete 15 hours of continuing education classes on prescribing controlled substances.

According to a consent agreement between Dr. Greenawald and the board, he prescribed 676 Ambien CR pills and 225 Ambien pills during a 274-day period for just one patient.  That equates to three pills a day.  Apparently, this patient was also getting pills from other doctors.

Dr. Greenawald prescribed another patient 800 Ambien CR pills for a 319-day period.  He informed state investigators that once he realized the frequency of prescriptions, he stopped prescribing the drugs to the patient.

This case is not isolated.
Improper prescribing of drugs is the most common violation that is handled by the board of medicine.  According to Dr. William Harp, executive director of the Virginia Board of Medicine, over the past five years, the board has discovered about 32 violations a year involving prescriptions.

Four other Virginia physicians have recently been found to be in violation of standards by the board, some of which included improper prescribing.  Two of these doctors’ violations were considered to be severe enough to cause them to lose their right to practice medicine.

What happens if you find yourself injured due to medical negligence? Read Virginia medical malpractice attorney Ben Glass’s book, Why Most Medical Malpractice Victims Never Recover a Dime, for more information.

In 1995, the female patient, who wasn’t named in the state’s report, saw Daniel R. Lerom for marriage counseling.  After the couple divorced, the woman continued to visit Lerom sporadically for counseling, but in August 2008, their sessions became more frequent.

Based on Florida’s investigation reports, Lerom stopped giving therapy to the woman in early February 2009 and they started a sexual relationship not long after.  Their relationship continued until May, when the psychologist’s wife found a text message between the two.

Lerom had charged the woman’s insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, over $1,400 for “specialty consults,” when in reality, the two were meeting for sex.  He ended up maxing out her annual allowable number of psychotherapy visits.  After their relationship came to an end, Lerom told the woman that he refunded the money, but the state’s investigation showed that only $117.40 of the $1,400 had been paid back.

When issuing the suspension of Lerom’s license, Dr. Ana M. Viamonte Ros, Florida’s surgeon general, stated, “Dr. Lerom’s willingness to engage in sexual misconduct with a patient and to exploit her for the insurance proceeds as well as for her prescription medication demonstrate a serious defect in Dr. Lerom’s judgment and moral character.”

Last November, two doctors who had gained immunity from a lawsuit involving catastrophic birth injuries were administratively punished by the Virginia Board of Medicine.  This situation was the first in 20 years.

Dr. Evelyn Anna Ruelaz of Fairfax County and Dr. Regina Burton of Woodbridge, both received formal reprimands for births that led to lifelong personal injuries to infants during the delivery.  Lee Ann Hershberger told the medical board panel that her son will never be able to care for himself.  Her son’s heart rate slowed and oxygen was shut off to him in utero while she was left unattended for long periods of time by Ruelaz.

These penalties by the medical board showed that birth injury cases were being more heavily scrutinized.  In 2003, changes were made that lowered the threshold for punishment in these types of cases.  Two hundred and nine sanctions were issued in 2006 by the Virginia Board of Medicine among the 34,813 individuals who hold Virginia medical licenses.  Until the two cases in 2008, there had never been reprimands for birth-related cases.

After the verdict to Virginia Board of medicine investigated the case and in an order dated October 9, 2009 the Board reprimanded Dr. Joshua. The board found that Dr. Joshua violated sections of Virginia law in failing to diagnose the rectal cancer by, in part, failing to perform a rectal examination or referring the patient to a specialist.

According to the order, Dr. Joshua “stated to the committee that he no longer performs anoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy… [and that he] has reviewed literature regarding rectal cancer and that he readily refers patients with similar complaints for subspecialty evaluation.”

You can read the Virginia Board of medicine’s order reprimanding Dr. Joshua here.

The instant action causing the revocation was Dr. Chavez’s treatment of Patient A, a 75-year-old male with a history of radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Patient A was seen by Dr. Chavez thirteen times between October 2004 and October 2006 and complained of hematuria (blood in the urine) and irritating voiding symptoms (discomfort during urination).

According to the disciplinary order “despite the patient’s history, symptoms, and a finding of atypical cells during a urine cytology taken in October 2004, Dr. Chavez failed during this period to order appropriate diagnostic tests to determine the cause of the patient’s hematuria.” In December 2006 Patient A was found to have high-grade muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma, a highly aggressive cancer with a very bad prognosis.

Dr. Chavez retired from practicing medicine in July 2008.

Here is the full Virginia Board of Medicine Disciplinary Order for Rolando M. Chavez.

Read more about Dr. Chavez’s failure to administer appropriate tests.

According to the Board’s recently published disciplinary order Weisman often used marijuana and alcohol while in his office and on call, sexually assaulted several members of his staff, was verbally and physically abusive to patients, and provided controlled substances to patients with little to no explanation. Weisman was also determined to have lied on his initial application for a Virginia medical license when he stated that he had never been dismissed from any physician position when in fact he had been fired from three separate residency programs. Weisman was also adjudged to have falsified the same application when he stated that he had no mental incapacities that would prevent him from practicing medicine. In 1993 and again in 2001 Weisman underwent psychological testing that indicated he did not have the mental capacity to practice medicine due to lapses in sequential reasoning and complex verbal memory.

Dr. Weisman’s actions have not only caught the eye of the Board of Medicine but also the police. Weisman was charged with two counts of simple assault back in February for the sexual advances he made on his employees. He was convicted during his recent trial but the judge agreed to set the verdict aside for consideration following a 12 month probationary period.

According to the Board’s order Weisman will be able to petition for reinstatement after 36 months.

Here is the full Disciplinary Order for Charles Weisman, MD.

Maybe it won’t this time.

A Fairfax County jury awarded one of our clients $1 million when a local internist failed to diagnose rectal cancer. The doctor not only didn’t fully appreciate the presence of rectal bleeding for years, but he didn’t refer the patient out to a specialist. At trial, specialists testified that had the patient been referred, he would not have needed to undergo the massive surgery that he had for rectal cancer.

Now the Virginia Board of Medicine has issued a formal reprimand to the doctor, who says he no longer does the “diagnostic procedures” he used in this case. He says he now readily refers his patients to a specialist.

You can read the Board of Medicine’s reprimand order of Alan Joshua, MD here. We are glad to see that Dr. Joshua’s patients have a better chance today than our client did.

Charles Weisman will not be practicing medicine in Viriginia for at least three years.

According to new reports Weisman, who Staunton police arrested after two female employees accused him of touching them inappropriately,  neither confirmed nor denied the allegations against him.

He worked at Blue Ridge Family Medicine, which is now closed.

A judge reduced the charges in September and took the case under advisement for a year.

The medical board also alleged Weisman drank alcohol at work and self-prescribed medication he didn’t need.