East Hartford physician surrenders his medical license; state drops cost of illegally prescribing opioids – Hartford Courant

An East Hartford pediatrician who served a federal sentence for illegally prescribing oxycodone and failing to pay greater than $177,000 in worker withholding taxes to the IRS has voluntarily surrendered his medical license.

Since Dr. Sheikh Ahmed of Orange, who operated the East Hartford Medical Middle, has turned in his license, the state Medical Inspecting Board on Tuesday agreed to drop its fees in opposition to him. If he tries to reinstate his license sooner or later, the fees will likely be deemed true, in line with an affidavit from Ahmed.

State Division of Public Well being information accuse Ahmed of partaking in unlawful and negligent conduct by prescribing oxycodone, an opioid painkiller, to folks in alternate for cash with out analyzing them in 2017 and 2018. He additionally elevated their dosage of the drug with out justification, DPH information present.

The U.S. State’s Legal professional’s workplace mentioned in 2020 that two folks paid Ahmed $500 for 30-day provides of oxycodone. It added that he endorsed the folks to extend the dosages progressively to keep away from scrutiny from pharmacists. The ages of the persons are unclear, however information present he handled adults in addition to kids.

Ahmed was arrested in 2018, and in 2019, he pleaded responsible to at least one rely of prescribing exterior the scope of medical follow and one rely of willful failure to pay withholding taxes, federal information present.

In 2020, U.S. District Choose Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport sentenced Ahmed to 6 months in jail, adopted by three years of supervised launch. The U.S. Legal professional’s workplace mentioned he had paid again the cash he owed to the IRS. Federal courtroom information present that Ahmed’s jail sentence was delayed 3 times for well being causes till not less than September 2021, however federal jail information present he was launched from custody on Feb. 2.

In an unrelated case in 2018, Ahmed was convicted of a state felony, medical insurance fraud, for misusing his nurses’ Medicaid numbers and for falsifying medical information to make it seem that the nurses carried out medical therapy that that they had not carried out, DPH information present. In 2013, the state Division of Social Companies had terminated Ahmed as a Medicaid supplier after investigating fraudulent Medicaid billing exercise, DPH information present.

In different separate enterprise Tuesday, the medical board fined a Hamden psychiatrist $5,000 for failing to adequately monitor a affected person’s blood ranges after prescribing remedy between 2014 and 2019. Underneath a consent order the board accredited, Dr. Enrique Tello Silva was additionally ordered to finish programs in affected person communication and the administration of sufferers on lithium, a drug used to deal with temper issues. Tello Silva selected to not contest the allegations, the order mentioned. His lawyer, Kevin Budge of New Haven, informed the board that Tello Silva has taken the matter very significantly and has a “deepest remorse” in regards to the state of affairs.

Earlier than recusing himself from the vote, board member Dr. Robert Inexperienced mentioned the high-quality was affordable, however the board is seeing too many instances of docs not correctly monitoring prescriptions.

“One thing went fallacious and the affected person suffered due to it,’’ Inexperienced mentioned. “Prescription writing and monitoring is a big downside not solely within the state of Connecticut however on this nation.”

In 2020, the board fined Tello Silva $5,000 and positioned his medical license on probation for a 12 months for failing to withdraw a affected person from the usage of Xanax on a protected schedule. The physician, whose identify was spelled as Tello-Silva on state information in that case, discontinued the affected person’s use of Xanax in 2018 and didn’t present the affected person with enough details about the drug, state information present.

Underneath that order, the physician was required to rent one other doctor to observe his follow for a 12 months. He was additionally ordered to take programs in medical documentation and the right prescription and discontinuation of benzodiazepines corresponding to Xanax, the order mentioned.

Additionally individually Tuesday, the medical board additionally reprimanded the license of Dr. Robert W. Behrends, a Waterbury psychiatrist, for prescribing greater than a 72-hour provide of a managed substance and failing to evaluate the affected person’s information in a drug monitoring program, in line with a consent order accredited by the board.

Behrends has accomplished programs in correct prescribing practices. In signing the order, he didn’t admit wrongdoing however selected to not contest the allegations. Inexperienced objected to the reprimand as “nothing greater than a slap on the wrist.” Behrends’ lawyer, Mary Alice Moore Leonhardt of Farmington, mentioned the affected person within the case died. She added that Behrends has totally cooperated with DPH. She mentioned he’s winding down his follow and is “not considered one of these docs on the market prescribing like a cowboy.”

“The affected person end result was an especially jarring expertise for Dr. Behrends,’’ she mentioned.

The board accepted the consent order by an 11-3 vote with Inexperienced and board members Michele Jacklin and lawyer Joseph Kaliko voting no.

This story was reported underneath a partnership with the Connecticut Well being I-Group (c-hit.org), a nonprofit information group devoted to well being reporting.