The following are six updates in states that have punished physicians by suspending or restricting their medical licenses for misconduct, as covered by Becker's since March 28:
- Ndubuisi Joseph Okafor, MD, a physician based in Washington, D.C., has been arrested and charged with 16 counts of illegal distribution of opioids. His license was suspended in 2007 in a separate criminal case after being found guilty of tax evasion. It was reinstated in 2013.
- Former Santa Rosa, Calif.-based pain management physician Thomas Keller was sentenced to 30 months in prison for illegally prescribing Schedule II and IV controlled substances. He surrendered his license in 2019.
- Drew Lieberman of Bal Harbour, Fla., has forfeited his medical license after serving time for his role in a $60 million fraud scheme.
- Joseph Dorn, MD, is suing the Florida Department of Health after he was subjected to an undercover probe and was cleared of any wrongdoing. The state initially sought to take away his medical license, ban him from prescribing marijuana and enforce a $10,000 fine, though these restrictions have since been dropped.
- Carroll County, Ga.-based family medicine physician Brent Harris, MD, has been sentenced to 12 months of probation after illegally accessing medical records.
- The Iowa Board of Medicine issued an emergency order to suspend the license of Ravindra Kumar Gangadhariah, MD, a Davenport-based dermatologist, due to incompetence and practicing in an unsafe manner.