Doctor in OxyContin case suspended

David Kihara

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005 | 11:16 a.m.

The state on Wednesday suspended the license of a Las Vegas doctor accused of prescribing potentially lethal doses of the painkiller OxyContin to men who did not need the drug for medical purposes.

The Board of Osteopathic Medicine issued an emergency 60-day suspension of Jim Y. Wang's license for allegedly prescribing the powerful painkiller to men who came from Utah specifically to purchase the drug, according to the board.

Wang allegedly did not perform diagnostic studies and didn't attempt to obtain records from any prior treating physicians of the men, who came to Vegas from other places and claimed to have back and other pain, according to a complaint issued by the board.

Trey Delap, deputy executive director of the Osteopathic Board, said the board issued the emergency suspension -- only the third emergency suspension issued in five years by the board -- because of the danger posed by the highly addictive narcotic.

"OxyContin is one of the strongest painkillers on the planet and is potentially lethal," Delap said.

Wang said he had not yet reviewed the accusations against him. He declined to comment further on Wednesday.

Wang's license will be suspended for 60 days, during which time the board will schedule a hearing to make findings in the case and then will determine any penalties, Delap said. The hearing has not been scheduled.

Wang, who has been licensed to practice in Nevada since 1999, cannot practice medicine or write prescriptions during the 60-day suspension. He is also responsible for transferring the care of his patients to other physicians, Delap said.

Mike Flanagan, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Las Vegas, said it is not uncommon to find doctors in the Las Vegas Valley illegally prescribing OxyContin to people, but he could not provide statistics on arrests or prosecution of such individuals.

"There are doctors here in Nevada that are diverting controlled substances," Flanagan said. Diverting is the term used to describe individuals who transfer drugs to illicit markets.

"Doctors have the ability to abuse their privileges in abusing the drugs for profit or other reasons," he said.

Metro Police on Wednesday could not immediately provide statistics on the number of people arrested for illegally prescribing OxyContin or the number of people who overdose from the drug.

Recently, the Board of Osteopathic Medicine in March revoked the license of Dr. Gary Lutz, who was found guilty of excessive prescribing of pharmaceuticals, including OxyContin.

In July, the state Board of Medical Examiners suspended the license of Dr. Doyle Stuart Steele of Las Vegas for having sex with a patient and prescribing narcotics such as OxyContin to patients.

The DEA reported that OxyContin was linked or likely linked to 464 deaths in the United States in 2000 and 2001.

Flanagan said the drug continues to be abused.

"OxyContin is one of the most abused pharmaceuticals," he said, adding that it is highly addictive and even people who can take it with a valid prescription can become addicted if they are not careful.

Wang is currently facing 20 counts of prescribing OxyContin excessively, failing to document the medications and administering the drug without justification, among other charges.

The complaint alleges that alleged patients went to Wang complaining of pains or other ailments and sought refills of OxyContin prescriptions.

In one case, Wang allegedly found no abnormal findings for a man who complained of spine and knee pain and characterized the patient's pain as moderate.

However, he refilled the patient's prescription at a 80 milligram dosage even though Wang had no proof that the man had previously received an OxyContin prescription, according to the complaint.

Wang allegedly refilled these prescriptions three more times over several months.

"Such a dose of OxyContin could have been life threatening since Respondent had no awareness of (the patient's) pain level, experience with OxyContin, or level of drug resistance," according to the complaint.