My question is very simple yet I have been unable to find a definitive answer anywhere. I am hoping someone here can help. I personally know a very respected physician who prescribed large amounts(100 tabs of 10/325 vicodin) per month to his daughter. This was done on numerous occasions throughout the year. This same physician then instructed his daughter to split the vicodin with his wife. I also know for a fact that this same physician prescribed expensive medications to himself, had his insurance pay for it then gave the medication to family members because they could not afford them. What agencies oversee physicians on their prescription pratices, can this physician get into any trouble for these practices and how do I reach these agencies? Any and all factual advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

You can start here Texas Medical Board

Things they will ask you is how you know for a FACT, just as an example.

You go to your state medical board of licensure. I guessed you were from Texas due to the TX in your username.

How do you know for a FACT that he charged these to his insurance? Medical professionals are not supposed to prescribe for themselves, and if they do it will be seen by the insurance company, and possibly not covered.

You would have to go through his insurance company for this.

Try here too

Texas Department of State Health Services

What did this doctor do to you or a member of your family? You have some very serious allegations here and your proof will have to be 100% right. While anyone can make an accusation these days, you don't say how you got the information. Did you violate this doctor's privacy to access records?

I am not saying I agree with you or this doctor, I am just throwing another side to this.

Let's just say that this doctor is financing a very nasty divorce against me. I have all prescription records for his daughter for the past several years. Furthermore, the medications that he prescribed to himself were given to me directly. He has a god=like complex and thinks he is completely invincible because of his reputation and pure arrogance. While I don't really want to wreck his career or reputation I find it necessary to fight this way out of sekf preservation and because his daughter became dependent on these meds which caused major problems.

So you are the son-in-law. If you have these records, then go after him. He should be stopped.

So, you are the daughter's soon to be ex?

If your allegations are accurate this man should be stopped. But you will most likely ruin his career.

I am the soon to be ex. I don't know whether to write letters to his current employer(a major university), the D.E.A. the A.M.A. Tx. Medical Board, Dept of health services, or to attempt to take it public by writing a letter to the local papers, or maybe all of the above. I am not the most literate when it comes to computers and the web and finding specific violations has been frustating at best. All of the information I have found acknowledges that a physician should not prescribe to family or friends but nowhere can I find that it is completely unethical to do so.

Why do you feel it necessary to ruin this man's career? Yes, this is something he should not be doing and is unethical, but is it out of vengeance? Spite? What will you accomplish by this?

You must know that once you do this his malpractice insurance will kick in and possibly begin giving you a hard time, possibly sue you for defamation, slander and/or liable. You must be able to back up everything you say with concrete evidence. You will also need other people to back you and your accusations up.

You are treading on thin ice here.

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shygrneyzs agrees: True. He needs to be stopped and his license revoked. Which means he will probably move to a different country and set up there.

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Actually Shy, he doesn't HAVE to move to another country. He can easily apply in another state and still retain his licensure.

If I am correct, I can only be held accountable for slander, liable or defamation if it isn't the truth. What I am saying is a matter of fact that can be verified through d.e.a. prescription records along with the pharmacy records. Is it out of vengeance. Absolutelely not, it is out of self preservation. The best way to overcome a well equipped and funded enemy is to exhaust supply lines and drain resources until they are unable to fight. Kind of like scorched earth policy that saved Russia two times in history.

If you are serious about bringing this man down to his knees, then you talk to an attorney who handles medical malpractice. Taking the proverbial shotgun out and blasting away will not hit the right target, but will injure many others.

If you are doing to get even with him, which you are, then you still need to talk to an attorney. Talking to his employer? This man is a doctor and those people are still pretty protected by their employers. I am not saying that hospitals and clinics hide the bodies anymore but the proof you say you have cannot be refutable. Going off half cocked will only make you look like an idiot, honestly. It will come out that you took some of those medications. If you agreed to it then, why the stink now? Because of the pending divorce and the nastiness in that divorce.

It is some thin ice, like J_9 stated. If this doctor is still prescribing medications like this, he does need to be stopped. But do it legally.

You start this up and his Malpractice will go into effect to pay for his defense. There are millions of dollars there. Do you have the millions to fight back or will you exhaust your finances before the malpractice runs out?

Have you found an attorney who would be willing to take this on? You will need one as these allegations are serious. They may be true, but they are serious and his malpractice insurers will eat you alive.

I agree with you, J. The man can just move to another state. This sadly happens and hospitals are not always informed of what trouble they inherit with a new doctor. I remember working in a hospital and we just got pediatrican who specialized in neurology. Everyone was delighted to have him. He was well published, excellent standing and all that. Except his fatal flaw of being highly intolerant of any other doctor who was not Caucasian. So much so that he attacked the ER doctor one night when he was called in for a consultation. He never came to rounds the next day. He had gone home and packed up his belongings and moved. He was found in Canada, practicing medicine.

While I would want to see this particular doctor stopped from prescribing medications to his family and himself, so that he can hand out the meds to family, I would be very careful in doing so.

I am not sure if my answer came across or not so I am going to re-answer. What I am about to do is not out of vengeance but out of self presevation. How does this further my cause? When defending oneself against a well funded force sometimes it becmes necessary to find any means necessary to drain precious resources. By putting him on the spot and possibly having to spend large amounts of money to save his own reputation, he won't be able to spend as much trying to bury me. Kind of like scorched earth policy that saved Russia two times in history. Do I feel bad for him, absolutely, but he should have been there when his daughter was dependent on his meds and also been there when she was detoxing off the same meds. Trust me not a very pleasant sight.

What J_9 is trying to impress upon you is that this man's insurance will defend him. You are not going to preserve yourself, you will see yourself go down the hole financially, as you cannot imagine the money that will be thrown into this. It will not be one attorney, but a league of attorneys, a firm full of attorneys and para's and clerks that will represent him and fight. Yes, sometimes the little guy wins. Sometimes the right overcomes the might. If this man has not committed an actual crime, he certainly is guilty of an ethics violation. I know here, in North Dakota, a doctor cannot self prescribe for himself. Not sure about family. That might be a grey area. But definitely not to his or her own self.

I don't think you understand. When you file claim or suit or even allegations against this doctor his insurance company will defend him. The money will not come out of his pocket, as he has paid his premiums for a team of attorneys to defend him. He will not pay attorney's fees as they have already been paid through his monthly malpractice premiums.

It will be you that pays for the attorneys, his basically are already paid for. (Trust me, I was a legal secretary for years). His defense is ALREADY paid for. His premiums may go up if found guilty, but it will not by any means break his wallet. He will not be monitarily hurt in any way, shape or form by doing what you are considering. You, on the other hand, will be... if you can find an attorney to take your case.

You see, many attorneys will not take a case like this due to the expense of proving such allegations and expertise of the malpractice defense attorneys. Even if you win your case, he will most likely be put on nothing more than probation or prescription restrictions.

In the end you will be burying yourself in expenses.