Medical board revokes Ruidoso doctor’s license
Physician says claims he overprescribes ‘manufactured’
The New Mexico Medical Board has revoked the license of a Ruidoso physician it accused of prescribing controlled substances in a manner that posed “a clear and immediate danger to the public health,” among other allegations.
The physician, Walter Ray Seidel Jr., called the board’s claims against him “manufactured” and “false statements.”
Seidel was the medical doctor behind Rio Pecos Family Practice at 159 Mescalero Trail. He told the Journal he was forced to close the practice in February after the board suspended his license.
In May, the board issued a default order revoking Seidel’s license. Among the allegations contained in the order:
That Seidel was prescribing controlled substances without requesting reports from the state’s prescription monitoring program database.
That he was prescribing “the holy trinity” — an opioid, a benzodiazepine and carisprodol — “despite substantial evidence that this combination of medications has led to many overdose
deaths.”
■ That Seidel refused to cooperate with the board’s investigation of his prescribing practices.
In an interview with the Journal, Seidel acknowledged that he had not accessed the prescription monitoring program, stating he felt the use of the database to be a violation of both patient privacy and the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
He also said he believed the board’s investigation into his prescribing practices to be a violation of the same rights.
Seidel claimed the board had no evidence he had prescribed “the holy trinity” or that he constituted a danger to the public.
“(The board) is way out of its bounds,” said Seidel. “Look at all the patients in New Mexico who have chronic pain and are not being treated appropriately by their doctors because those physicians are afraid of the medical board.”
A spokeswoman for the board would not comment on the specifics of the investigation against Seidel but said obtaining prescription monitoring program reports and complying with all relevant regulations is mandatory for all prescribing practitioners.
“New Mexico’s high opioid death rate due to prescription drugs is a serious concern to the New Mexico Medical Board,” she said in a statement. “The board’s regulations regarding prescribing and the prescription monitoring program usage were designed, in part, to aid the practitioner in assuring that diversion and misuse of prescription medications is prevented.”
The board took Seidel to court late last year and petitioned a judge to order him to comply with an investigative subpoena.
Those documents state that “the board learned (Seidel) … had written almost 1,750 controlled substance prescriptions during the period of Oct. 1, 2015, to March 13, 2017, equating to almost 100 prescriptions a month. Some of the 144 patients for whom (Seidel) had written these prescriptions were driving to Ruidoso from as far away as Farmington, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and were filling their prescriptions at 29 different pharmacies. During this period, one patient filled prescriptions( Seidel) had written for almost 45,000 hydrocodone acetaminophen tablets .”
The court granted the board’s petition. Seidel has appealed the ruling.
Seidel said he was unable to respond to the board’s allegations regarding patients filling prescriptions at multiple pharmacies or the alleged 45,000 tablets because the board had not provided sufficient information about the incidents in question.
He attributed the 100 prescriptions a month figure to his preference for seeing his patients on a monthly basis and providing them with a single prescription instead of seeing them less regularly and giving them a prescription with refills.
The board also disciplined Seidel in 2017 for failing to report an adverse action by a law enforcement agency against him and for “conduct unbecoming a person licensed to practice or detrimental to the best interests of the public.” He was fined $2,000, according to medical board records.
The documents state Seidel was arrested by New Mexico State Police in 2013 during a traffic stop and did not report this to the board. A medical board investigator learned of the incident after seeing the dash-cam video and interviews with Seidel on two local newscasts, according to the documents.
Several charges filed against Seidel after the arrest — charges that included assault of a peace officer — were eventually dropped. He pleaded guilty to speeding.
Seidel said the medical board “has no jurisdiction” as it relates to the incident.
Lisa French of Ruidoso, who described herself as a longtime patient and friend of Seidel’s, said the board’s action will “destroy lives” because many patients will be unable to find other medical care in the rural area.