The Medical Licensing Board of Indiana (MLB) convened its final two meetings of 2017 in October and December.

During its October meeting, the MLB heard the case of John Sturman, MD, a neurologist with a subspecialty in pain management who formerly worked for an Indianapolis pain management clinic operated by Clarian Health (now IU Health). In August 2015, Dr. Sturman was charged in Marion County with reckless homicide in the deaths of three patients for whom he wrote prescriptions. He was also charged with multiple counts of improper prescribing. After the criminal charges were filed, the Office of the Indiana Attorney General (OIAG) filed a petition with the MLB to summarily suspend Dr. Sturman’s Indiana license. In September 2015, Dr. Sturman agreed to the summary suspension of his license until the criminal case concluded. As ISMA previously reported, a Marion County jury acquitted Dr. Sturman of all criminal charges in May 2017.

The October hearing before the MLB was to determine if Dr. Sturman’s prescribing violated provisions of Indiana law that could result in discipline to his medical license. The OIAG alleged, among other things, that at least 15 patients receiving controlled substances from Dr. Sturman died from causes related to those drugs. The OIAG also alleged that Dr. Sturman prescribed controlled substances to several patients in amounts that exceeded a 1,000 mg/day morphine-equivalent dose.

After the hearing concluded, the MLB suspended Dr. Sturman’s license for at least six months. He must petition the MLB to terminate the suspension. The MLB also ruled that, if Dr. Sturman’s license is reinstated, he will not be permitted to prescribe controlled substances.

Failure to maintain patient record
During its December meeting, the MLB accepted a settlement presented by the OIAG and a physician for that physician’s failure to maintain patient records for at least seven years, as required by Indiana law. According to the OIAG, the physician used an electronic health records system from Allscripts, but, when the physician failed to pay Allscripts to maintain the records, Allscripts destroyed them. The physician agreed to a monetary fine. This case is a good reminder that physicians should make sure their contracts with EHR vendors give them the ability to access the records or a right to an electronic copy of the records without additional charge after termination of the contract.