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Dr. Kevin Buckwalter was recorded during a sworn deposition.
Published Monday, Jan. 24, 2011 | 12:15 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011 | noon
Dr. Buckwalter, In His Own Words
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A Deposition of Dr. Buckwalter.
Sun Topics
A Nevada doctor implicated by authorities in the deaths of eight patients is leveling new allegations against the State Board of Medical Examiners over its suspension of his authority to prescribe medication.
Dr. Kevin Buckwalter of Henderson sued the board in November, charging his civil rights were violated because the board has failed to detail the allegations against him or schedule a hearing so he can defend himself.
The new allegation in the lawsuit is that the board members gave in to political pressure and moved against Buckwalter in response to the hepatitis C crisis that emerged in Southern Nevada in early 2008.
The board in November 2008 suspended Buckwalter's authority to prescribe controlled substances and he's a defendant in eight negligence lawsuits filed in Clark County District Court since April 2009.
The Drug Enforcement Administration also blocked his authority to prescribe drugs after a Las Vegas Sun investigation linked his practice to multiple patient deaths. The oversight agencies linked Buckwalter to eight fatalities.
Attorneys for the medical board responded last month and this month to Buckwalter's November lawsuit, saying the board had good reason to suspend his ability to prescribe drugs and arguing Buckwalter's lawsuit is unnecessary since he has the ability to press his case with the medical board but hasn't done so.
Medical board court filings show that after his drug-prescribing authority was suspended, Buckwalter's attorney in 2009 signed an agreement with the board to vacate a scheduled March 18, 2009, hearing during which Buckwalter could have contested the complaint against him. Penalties in the complaint could be as severe as a permanent revocation of his medical license, court records show.
The hearing was vacated based on the anticipation the board's complaint against Buckwalter would be resolved through a negotiated settlement; and settlement talks apparently continued until Buckwalter filed his federal lawsuit in Las Vegas in November 2010.
Board attorneys say they view the November lawsuit as an "implied revocation'' of Buckwalter's agreement to stay the March 2009 hearing, so they're now preparing for a full hearing on the board's complaint and plan to hold it in April.
"The board has never, expressly or impliedly, attempted to deprive plaintiff of his right to hearing,'' said a filing for the board by attorneys with the Reno law firm Robison, Belaustegui, Sharp & Low.
Those attorneys also asked that Buckwalter's lawsuit be dismissed, saying he wrongly sued individual medical board members who are immune from such lawsuits.
In arguing against Buckwalter's motion for an injunction blocking the board from enforcing its suspension of his drug-prescribing abilities, the medical board attorneys related the history of the case:
• As early as August 2006, the board began investigating citizen complaints about Buckwalter's method of prescribing, administering and dispensing medication and this led to Buckwalter being issued a non-disciplinary letter of warning by a board investigative committee.
• After receiving additional complaints that Buckwalter's methods for prescribing narcotics were excessive and dangerous and that this may have contributed to patient deaths, the board continued to investigate Buckwalter and had information on Buckwalter's practices peer-reviewed.
• Two peer reviews received in the fall of 2008 indicated "that in several instances, the plaintiff's professional conduct fell below the appropriate standard of care.''
• In suspending Buckwalter's ability to prescribe drugs, the board "found and concluded, upon a preponderance of the evidence, that plaintiff (Buckwalter) maintained inadequate medical records, and prescribed excessive controlled substances, and that in at least one instance, the plaintiff's (Buckwalter's) conduct contributed to the death of a patient.''
In arguing against Buckwalter's motion that the board be restrained from enforcing its order preventing Buckwalter from prescribing drugs, the board's attorneys wrote in a court filing that any harm to Buckwalter by that order "pales in comparison to the interests of the public in being protected from physicians who have shown an inability or unwillingness to practice in conformity with the appropriate standard of care.''
"The State Board of Medical Examiners has determined, through appropriate investigation and peer review, that to allow plaintiff (Buckwalter) to continue to practice medicine poses a threat to the health and safety of his patients and to the general public,'' attorneys for the board argued.
Jacob Hafter, one of Buckwalter's attorneys, said Monday that based on that language and the board's stance against Buckwalter he believes the board will be moving to revoke Buckwalter's license, not just extend the suspension of his ability to prescribe drugs.
Yet, Hafter said, information the board has produced so far focuses on record-keeping violations and doesn't support either suspension of his ability to administer drugs or revocation of his license.
In responding to the board filings, Hafter and another Buckwalter attorney -- Michael Naethe -- said individual board members are not immune from the lawsuit because their suspension of Buckwalter's ability to prescribe drugs was made without Buckwalter being able to defend himself. They said that violated his right to due process under the U.S. Constitution.
"Defendants cannot demonstrate that they were shielded from political influence. Certain defendants are political appointees. All of the defendants are charged with upholding the legislative mandate set forth in (Nevada law). At the time which the summary suspension occurred, defendants were under intense public and political scrutiny to discipline and regulate the medical profession as part of the Endoscopy Center crisis. As a result, defendants acted swiftly and harshly to suspend plaintiff’s license, ex parte (in a one-sided fashion),'' Buckwalter's filing said.
"Such actions occurred despite the fact that defendants had not acted in such a manner against any physician previously who was alleged to have committed the same acts with which plaintiff was charged,'' his filing said.
"The summary suspension was widely publicized throughout the state of Nevada. To suggest that the defendants did not have political motives for what they did in this case is suspect, at best,'' the filing said. "The defendants rushed to discipline Dr. Buckwalter as a result of the Hepatitis C crisis and the allegations that the defendants were soft on disciplining doctors.''
Buckwalter's attorneys also said that in agreeing to vacate the March 2009 hearing, Buckwalter didn't waive his due process rights.
"The question in this case is whether the defendants violated plaintiff’s due process rights when they summarily suspended, did such under the false pretense of an emergency and continued such suspension without any notice or opportunity to be heard for the past two-plus years,'' Buckwalter's filing said. "For over two years now, with no relief in sight, plaintiff’s medical career has been destroyed as a result of an ex parte (one-sided) decision by defendants to summarily suspend plaintiff’s medical license.
"Plaintiff has turned to this court as an avenue of last resort to restore what he has dedicated his life to -- the practice of medicine,'' Buckwalter's filing said.
Attorneys for the state replied last week, citing previous case law finding the structure of the medical board and the procedural requirements of its decision-making process "show that board members are sufficiently insulated from political influence.''
The federal judge and magistrate judges assigned to the case have not yet indicated when they may rule on the board's motion that the case be dismissed or on Buckwalter's motion for an injunction.
Records show Buckwalter's now-restricted state medical license is set to expire June 30. Because of the November 2008 action against him, Buckwalter hasn't worked as a doctor for more than two years, Hafter said.
While the State Board of Medical Examiners has linked Buckwalter to one death, on Dec. 18, 2008, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration stripped Buckwalter of his ability to prescribe controlled substances, alleging that at least eight of his patients since 2005 had died of overdoses.
Buckwalter, in the meantime, is disputing the medical malpractice allegations against him.
For instance, in April 2010, Susan Lee Holden sued Buckwalter in Clark County District Court over the death of her husband Stephen Richard Holden.
"The tragic circumstances leading to Stephen Richard Holden's death were part of a pattern and practice of Dr. Buckwalter which involved the unnecessary and inappropriate prescription of controlled substances," the lawsuit charged.
Attorneys for Buckwalter disputed this, writing in an answer to the lawsuit Buckwalter "fully performed and discharged all obligations owed to" Holden "including meeting the requisite standard of care" to which he was entitled.
He's lucky his butt isn't in jail. He's got no business holding a medical license, and for once, the Board of Medical Examiners did the correct thing.
I went to Dr. Buckwalter with a medical issue, he didn't even examine me to see the affected area, he just wrote a prescription. I immediately went to a real doctor and received proper treatment, which was not what Buckwalter had prescribed. This guy deserves to have his privledges and his licensed revoked.
"Two per reviews"
Shouldn't that be "Two peer reviews"
It's amazing that The Sun, a prestigious award winning Newspaper (by its own account), can't afford a simple spell-checker or an adequate proofreader.
In other news, Dr. Buckwalter today was named Southern Nevada coordinator for Obamacare.
I just wish there was a board who could disqualify all the people who blame Obama (or Bush for that matter) for everything from the weather to the pimple on their a$$ and make it so they wouldn't be allowed to vote.
Wasn't the "hepatitis problem" really a sterilization problem in which the sterilizing solution, which many doctors used, was not changed frequently enough to be effective? What does that have to do with his skills (or lack of skill) as a surgeon, or with his ability to prescribe medication? Let the punishment fit the crime.
I only wish the State Board would come down harder.
Well lets put it this way lol. Kevin Buckwalter was a nice guy. However, it was strange when I visited him, back when he was practicing.
There was a sign in the check out area that said "We can no longer provide refills for oxycotin or percoset over the phone". LOL I was like really? Since when has anyone been able to do that for a controlled substance like that.
I remember describing various symptoms to Dr. Buckwalter and he checked a few things but honestly not very detailed. He just would write down the prescriptions based on the symptoms I gave.
Which is fine but I found it odd because I could really just describe symptoms ahd have a script ready in minutes. Anyhow, it appears he allowed that kind of behavior to get out of hand by prescribing various medications based on symptoms without following through and making sure he was prescribing the right medications for the patient.
Also prescribing multiple pain medications and other drugs that could have contributing factors if taken at the same time is not smart.
O.K. I'll say it The Board is just another government intrusion between you and your doctor!
[sarcasm]
Not being judgmental or prejudicial, and of course the DEFENDANT has the right to representation - but the SYSTEM is COMPROMISED right from the start, so how can there be any kind of justice?
The issue is everywhere - all to do with "needles" and infections with "professional people" who should know better saying they KNOW NOTHING and hide their ERRORS by not wanting to take personal responsibility and shift it to their "underlings".
In my opinion that is the result of a MONETARILY based "system".
What strange comments from a group of Sun-Suck-ups who, quite like Marshall Allen himself, will not rest until every medical professional in this community is either:
A.) driven out of town by a bunch of witch-hunting extremists with their malpractice agendas, or...
B.) Threatened directly with "journalistic exposure", when the vast majority of them are committed, devoted health-care providers forced to make a career of treating those who could well be the most narcissistic, demanding, and unreasonable community of patients the world has ever known, or...
C.) Lumped into the same third-world medical basket as Dr. Deepak Desai himself, as if the Endoscopy Center's practices were any less an anomoly to this community than, say...the Sun's daily front-page skank-parade of scantily-clad, not-so-newsworthy young "ladies".
Give it a rest, guys. Your agenda to "link" Dr. Buckwalter to a bunch of patient deaths (especially the shotgun suicide; now that HAD TO BE the doctor's fault, right?!) reeks of pure, self-serving sensationalism and opportunistic libel. But, hey, you have to grapple for that next Pulitzer SOMEHOW, right?
@loyal_employee: Are you one of Buckwalter's former employees? I work for a pain management physician and what Buckwalter was doing was criminal. He didn't follow DEA regulations with regard to prescribing Schedule II drugs. He didn't examine the patients. He completely over-prescribed medications that, if you want to get technical about it, he wasn't really qualified to do on a chronic basis.
The only doctors I want driven out of town are the incompetent and/or criminal ones.
Dr Buckwalter was the best family practitioner I ever went to in this town. he was the only one that actually sat down and talked with me about whaat was gfoiung on. Once I had to take my really sick wife to the emergency at St Rose and there were almost 100 people waiting. They were out the door. Went to another emergency same thing. I took her to Dr Buckwalter and he let her right in. The front office said not without an appt, but when Dr Buckwalter saw us he told them to check her in. I don't blame Dr Buckwalter for the drug addicts that over dosed themselves. People have to be responsible for their own actions. Drug addict will always find a way to get their drugs. Why don't we hold gun makers responsible when someone shoots someone else. I have seen so many people who drive to so-called pain management centers who couldn't even walk straight they were so over medicated. I have been to some doctors that do not even do a work-up on you. They just want their cash payment and here is your prescription. I would take Dr Buckwalter for my primary Dr over alot I have seen in this town. For the record I do not take pain meds anymore. After I watched a relative get overprescribed by a so-called Pain Management Doctor for years then having that person die at 66 years old was enough. That stuff will get anyone addicted. If you have been taking pain meds for over 6 months your addicted. You may be able to stop, but your body will give you hell in doing so.
Best Doctor I ever went to
There are plenty of good doctors available , Dr. Buckwalter was a licensed drug dealer ,every pharmacy complained about his prescribing habits . In 2006 the Medical Board was aware of this but never acted . Thank god they pulled his license in 2008 , but for some it was 3 months too late because my family member was given a drugstore to take home .She didn't make it . So he took away a 21 year olds life . The article describes 8 people but through research it is actually over 10 people who passed . Throw the book at him Medical Board .......
Civil Rights? What about the rights of the eight who are dead? Good work medical board.
To those who think the doctor should still have his license should tell that to each of the 8 families. Then take one of his prescriptions. Hopefully you are still alive in a few days.