Board suspends doctor’s license

Thursday, July 7, 2005 | 11:12 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Board of Medical Examiners has suspended the license of a Las Vegas doctor who is accused of sexual misconduct and improper prescribing of narcotics.

The board, in a press release Wednesday, said a three-count complaint has been filed against Dr. Doyle Stuart Steele, who was licensed in 1984 to practice in Nevada.

The complaint alleges that Steele, an obstetrician-gynecologist, had sex with one of his patients.

Steele also is accused of malpractice in connection with his prescribing of narcotic painkillers such as hydrocodone and OxyContin for three patients.

In addition the board accused Steele of going beyond the scope of his practice by prescribing drugs for a man. Tony Clark, executive director of the board, said Steele is accused of "practicing outside his expertise," because all of an OB/GYN's patients should be women.

Clark said in all three cases, Steele did not keep adequate records in the prescription of the controlled substance.

He said there were no treatment plans, no charts on when and where the drugs were prescribed and the effectiveness of the drugs.

A pre-hearing conference is set for July 22 to determine what evidence will be admitted and what witnesses will be called by both sides.

Steele was out of town and could not be reached for comment, according to his answering service that said his office was closed. Ronald Logar, Steele's Reno lawyer, also could not be reached for comment.

No hearing date has been set for the case to be presented to the state board. The board "summarily suspended" the license at a meeting June 30.

Attached to the most recent complaint against Steele was an affidavit written by Matthew Alberto, a lieutenant with the Nevada Division of Investigations who is also the supervisor of a drug task force.

Alberto noted that the investigation of Steele began after a fatal traffic crash involving controlled substances prescribed by Steele. Steele's "pattern of prescribing excessive amounts of controlled substances without adequate medical office documentation is consistent with the illegal diversion of controlled substances for possible distribution or use on the street."

Alberto said a female patient told investigators that she and Steele had a sexual relationship at his office after hours "where he would provide prescriptions and pain pills' to her.

In a June 16 interview with Steele, the doctor admitted to Alberto that he had sex with the patient, according to the affidavit. Steele told Alberto that the patient "could have possibly been under the influence of narcotics when they had their sexual encounters, but (Steele) denied giving her anything but Imitrex for a migraine headache."

Alberto said Steele told investigators he "did not want a long-term relationship with (the patient) and stated that she must have misunderstood his intention because she had a 'fatal attraction thing' and was 'stalking him.' "

Steele told investigators he had about five sexual encounters with her, according to the affidavit. He said the woman became irate when he broke off their relationship and refused to return her calls.

Clark said there was already a pending complaint against Steele and that case is set for hearing Nov. 29-30.

In that complaint, Steele is accused of having sex with a patient in a hospital after she had surgery. The patient was his girlfriend, according to board spokespersons.

In addition, Clark said Steele is accused in an anger management case. Clark said Steele had arrived at a Las Vegas hospital and could not find a parking place so he took the space assigned to the chief of staff.

When the chief of staff arrived, he parked his car behind Steele's so it could not be moved. Steele emerged from the hospital, rammed his car several times into the vehicle of the chief of staff.