Board not dropping probe of doctor

Beth Slovic

Monday, June 7, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.

The state Board of Medical Examiners on Friday changed course and decided not to drop its investigation of Kurt Buzard, the Las Vegas ophthalmologist who pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge of cocaine possession.

At the board's meeting Friday, Stephen Quinn, the groups' general counsel, had asked the board to consider dismissing disciplinary action against the doctor, who owns Buzard Eye Institute on West Sahara Avenue. When the lawyer for the board initially filed the complaint against Buzard, he did not know that the doctor had entered the drug-treatment program that the board contracts.

Quinn, who recently took office at the board under the direction of a new executive secretary, had mistakenly thought it was the board's policy not to discipline doctors who voluntarily seek help for drug addiction.

The board, however, decided to continue the investigation of Buzard's case. It also decided to re-examine the board's oversight of its own treatment program. According to Bradley Thompson, who directs the program called "diversion," Buzard has been in compliance with the mandates of the service, which includes counseling and periodic urine tests.

"What does being in compliance with the diversion program now truly mean?" asked Cheryl Hug-English, the board's president.

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