Post by pavel on Jan 14, 2016 23:45:18 GMT -6
Disciplined Houston Doctor Sues Reporter For Writing About Him Being Disciplined
A Houston doctor has sued a dead patient's mother and the owner of the Austin American-Statesman for what he claims was a hit piece published in violation of a settlement order.
Joel Joselevitz, 56, was one of three physicians whose disciplinary history with the Texas Medical Board was covered in a December 2014 investigation by reporter Mary Ann Roser about how doctors who prescribe addictive painkillers to patients who subsequently die are rarely, if ever, charged with a crime.
As reported in the story and in TMB records, three of Joselevitz's patients fatally overdosed between 2010-2012. Joselevitz was barred from prescribing certain scheduled drugs in 2014, "based upon his operation of a pain management clinic without proper certification and nontherapeutic prescribing to multiple chronic pain patients," according to a Board order.
The order also states that, during a 30-day period in 2013, Joselevitz prescribed a controlled substance to 98.2 percent of the 449 patients he saw. Citing a database compiled by ProPublica, Roser wrote:
Read more: www.houstonpress.com/news/disciplined-houston-doctor-sues-reporter-for-writing-about-him-being-disciplined-8066029
A Houston doctor has sued a dead patient's mother and the owner of the Austin American-Statesman for what he claims was a hit piece published in violation of a settlement order.
Joel Joselevitz, 56, was one of three physicians whose disciplinary history with the Texas Medical Board was covered in a December 2014 investigation by reporter Mary Ann Roser about how doctors who prescribe addictive painkillers to patients who subsequently die are rarely, if ever, charged with a crime.
As reported in the story and in TMB records, three of Joselevitz's patients fatally overdosed between 2010-2012. Joselevitz was barred from prescribing certain scheduled drugs in 2014, "based upon his operation of a pain management clinic without proper certification and nontherapeutic prescribing to multiple chronic pain patients," according to a Board order.
The order also states that, during a 30-day period in 2013, Joselevitz prescribed a controlled substance to 98.2 percent of the 449 patients he saw. Citing a database compiled by ProPublica, Roser wrote:
"In 2011, Joselevitz ranked No. 1 in Texas for his prescribing of hydrocodone to Medicare patients....Those patients receives an average of 23 prescriptions, compared with an average of 10 by his peers. Also, 97 percent of his patients filled at least one prescription for a narcotic painkiller, compared with 82 percent of his peers' patients...."