Agency officials say prison doctors aren’t shackled by past problems

More than a third of all doctors on the payroll at the Oklahoma Department of Corrections have been sanctioned at some point during their medical careers, The

Oklahoman has found. The physicians have been disciplined for medication prescribing issues, insurance fraud, alcohol and drug abuse and other behaviors prohibited by the boards that oversee physicians, including two state medical boards and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

Two state-controlled boards — one for medical doctors, the other for osteopaths — handle the bulk of disciplinary matters involving licensed health care providers.

The state narcotics bureau, which issues registration numbers to Oklahoma physicians who write prescriptions for controlled drugs, can discipline registrants who run afoul of the agency’s regulations and can prohibit them from prescribing certain narcotic medications.

Clint Castleberry, manager of the state Corrections Department’s Medical Services Division, said health care workers hired to treat prisoners are evaluated on a case-by-case basis before a job is offered.

“Some of our staff do have

restrictions placed on their licenses by their governing boards,” Castleberry said. “These restrictions, and the infractions warranting the restrictions, are discussed with the applicant, and in many cases with the licensing board, before a potential offer of employment occurs.”

Nine of the 25 physicians currently on the Corrections Department’s payroll have been disciplined before, including the agency’s chief medical officer.

The situation is hardly unique among state agencies in Oklahoma.

In 2014, an investigation by The Oklahoman found that six of the 18 physicians working at the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs had been sanctioned at some point during their medical careers.

Indeed, Castleberry said it’s no secret the Corrections Department “has struggled to attract applicants for many positions,” including physicians.

“Pay can be a factor,” Castleberry said. “The agency is not always able to compete with private-sector salaries.”

The doctors

Most of the disciplined doctors on the Corrections Department’s payroll have struggled with substance abuse at some point during their careers. For some, brushes with state licensing boards were brief and nonrecurring while others faced sanctions time and again, records show. Corrections Department doctors include:

•Robert C. Balogh, a medical doctor, who was disciplined by the state narcotics bureau in 2010 for failing to disclose he had previously struggled with drug addiction. Balogh told an agency investigator he had doctor-shopped while employed at a hospital and diverted “drugs of patients by requiring patients to bring all medications to an appointment, then taking ‘handfuls’ of the drugs for himself,” a state narcotics bureau order stated. The physician’s registration was placed on five years’ probation by the agency and Balogh was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. He now works at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre.

•Jonathan Brewer, a medical doctor, who admitted to abusing “opiates” between 2007 and April 2009 and told medical board investigators he “took a prescription pad” from an employer and “forged approximately 20 prescriptions for Percocet for his personal use,” records show. Brewer also admitted to taking “opiates from patients who had returned medications to him.” A veteran, Brewer would continue to struggle with mental health and substance abuse issues over the years, but today his Oklahoma medical license is “fully active” though he remains on board-supervised probation. He has not had any formal complaints filed against him since 2014. He currently works at the Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft.

•Misti Faubion, an osteopath, who tested positive for methamphetamine in 2011 after a drug test ordered by her supervisors at the Pushmataha Family Medical Center in Clayton. Faubion also reportedly wrote “at least 13 prescriptions on prescription pads stolen from the center” during a 10-day suspension, medical board records reveal. Faubion has not been disciplined by the Oklahoma State Board of Osteopathic Examiners since the 2011 incidents, and last year her probation was terminated early. Today, Faubion works at the Mack Alford Correctional Center in Stringtown.

•Ross Fisher, a medical doctor, who was disciplined in 2006 after a second alcohol-related car accident in less than five years. Medical board documents indicate Fisher was involved in alcohol-related accidents in November 2005 and February 2003 and that he was charged by police in both cases. Records show the doctor’s blood-alcohol level in the 2005 accident was .26, a figure well above the legal limit. Fisher has avoided trouble since the most recent accident and completed his board-supervised probation in 2011. Today, he works at the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center in south Cleveland County.

•Paul D. Johnson, a medical doctor, who surrendered his medical license in 1994 and agreed to seek treatment for alcohol abuse, though few other details are available in medical board records. Just a few months later, in January 1995, Johnson’s license was reinstated and placed on five years’ probation. In November 1998, all restrictions were removed from his medical license, and the doctor has not had any trouble since. Johnson currently works at the J.H. Lilley Correctional Center in Boley.

•Joe McCurdy, a medical doctor, who struggled with substance abuse for years until he surrendered his medical license in June 2006. Nearly three years later, the doctor successfully petitioned the medical board and had his license reinstated on March 27, 2009, though he was placed on indefinite probation at the time. In March 2015, after six years with no sanctions or complaints, McCurdy’s probation was lifted. He currently serves as the Corrections Department’s chief medical officer, records show.

•Jacob Andrew Moore, an osteopath, who was disciplined in June 2015 after it was discovered that he’d been writing narcotic prescriptions for his wife and using another physician’s DEA registration number. Records also show Moore broke into the office of his former partner and used the other physician’s computer for unspecified reasons. Moore now works at the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington.

•Bobby J. Thompson, an osteopath, who has struggled with substance abuse issues — on and off — for the past 20 years, records show. In December 1996, Thompson was placed on probation by the Oklahoma State Board of Osteopathic Examiners for three years and records indicate the doctor continued to struggle into the next decade. However, as of June 2014, Thompson’s license was no longer restricted in any way, records show. He currently works at North Fork Correctional Facility and the Joseph Harp Correctional Center.

•Lawrence H. Trombka, a medical doctor, who was found guilty of Medicaid fraud in August 1991 and received a three-year suspended sentence and a $10,000 fine. Records show the psychiatrist had defrauded insurance companies of “at least $75,000” before he was caught. Trombka’s medical license was suspended for six months, and he was placed on five years’ probation upon his return in May 1992. Trombka worked for a private prison in Holdenville in parts of 2009 and 2010. Since 2008, he’s provided psychiatric services to state prisons in Taft, Hominy and McAlester.

Attempts to reach the physicians for comment through the state Corrections Department were not successful.

Most prosper at Corrections Department

Castleberry said all “medical and mental health professionals,” including those with disciplinary records, are supervised by “regional doctors” and other coordinators employed by the Corrections Department. Physicians who run afoul of the Corrections Department’s rules and regulations are reported to their respective licensing boards, he added.

But most medical personnel stay out of trouble, agency spokeswoman Terri Watkins said.

“We went back 10 years, and there were no suspensions without pay, demotions or discharges of the doctors” currently employed by the prisons system, Watkins said.

“The licensing board, as well as the DOC, has a vested interest in seeing these doctors succeed,” Castleberry said.