Health Law
In Lengthy Legal Saga, Pa. Doctor is Licensed, Then Loses Practice Privileges
Posted Nov 11, 2008, 02:08 pm CST
By Martha Neil
Richard Brown never seemed like a great candidate for a physician's license. A lackluster student in high school and college, he attended several foreign institutions before getting a medical degree.
Criticized in sometimes-scathing evaluations by the physicians in charge of hospital programs for whom he worked as in clinical rotations, Brown nonetheless managed to get licensed as a Pennsylvania physician with the help of legal action and "loopholes" in the state regulations governing medical practice, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Now, however, a number of legal issues are piling up for Brown, 64. Suspended from medical practice for five years after he was convicted on a felony drug charge in 2003, he is facing criminal charges for allegedly using falsified credentials to become licensed as a doctor and allegedly 270 illegal prescriptions for a half-dozen known drug abusers. He and his wife also are facing tax evasion charges.
"Prosecutors say Brown evaded medical licensing requirements by using a combination of falsified documents and legal threats," the newspaper article states, noting that stricter oversight today makes it more difficult to get licensed as a doctor without completing required training.
Brown, who has said he is innocent of wrongdoing, is scheduled for trial later this month in the tax evasion case, according to his lawyer.
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