Physician

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Amphetamine Rule
Physician violated the "amphetamine rule" by prescribing amphetamines too soon and in dosages that were too high. Decision: 13 N.J.A.R. 639
Consent
A physician's failure to fully inform a patient of the procedures, risks, benefits and alternatives involved in medical testing do not amount to gross malpractice. Decision: 3 N.J.A.R. 381
Fraudulent Billings
A physician's submission of fraudulent billings in violation of N.J.S.A. 45:09-06 and 45:09-16 warrants a license suspension and a fine. Decision: 1 N.J.A.R. 210
Investigation
While during the course of an investigation, the better practice would be to inform a physician that anything he said could be used against him, the failure to do so would not support the suppression of the physician's testimony. Decision: 5 N.J.A.R. 496
License Revocation
Physician's license was revoked for violation of laws relating to the prescribing, dispensing, possession and professional use of controlled dangerous substances. In assessing civil penalties for the violations, the main consideration should be remedial rather than punitive. Decision: 13 N.J.A.R. 217
Misconduct
Where a physician regularly imbibes alcoholic beverages during working hours and examines and treats patients with the odor of alcohol on his breath, he has engaged in "professional misconduct" but such behavior, even when coupled with instances of questionable professional conduct, does not amount to negligence or malpractice. Decision: 1 N.J.A.R. 210
Gross malpractice suggests conduct beyond a deviation from normal standards of conduct. Decision: 3 N.J.A.R. 028
Deviation from acceptable medical practice by failure to perform an immediate bedside tracheostomy rather than waiting for an operating room and by leaving a patient before assuring that patient was in the hands of a competent person constitutes gross malpractice. Decision: 3 N.J.A.R. 028
A physician's failure to fully inform a patient of the procedures, risks, benefits and alternatives involved in medical testing do not amount to gross malpractice. Decision: 3 N.J.A.R. 381
A physician's decision to perform a positive contract ventriculogram when less invasive testing is available is a deviation from standard practice but not so gross a deviation as to equal malpractice. Decision: 3 N.J.A.R. 381
A physician's mistake in judgment, although a deviation from standard practice, does not amount to gross malpractice. Decision: 3 N.J.A.R. 381
Deviation from acceptable medical practice by failing to immediately diagnose and treat the patient's symptoms; by failing to immediately ask for and review neck x-rays and her failure to read the entire emergency room chart; by leaving the hospital at a time when her patient was in distress; by failing to properly direct nurses as to what steps to take; by failing to attempt a tracheostomy when a patient went into final respiratory arrest and by allowing an unconscionable delay in time between a patient's admission to the hospital when the correct diagnosis should have been made and the making of that diagnosis constituted gross malpractice. Decision: 3 N.J.A.R. 028
Where, in violation of a 1978 Consent Order, a physician regularly imbibes alcoholic beverages during working hours and examines and treats patients, having the odor of alcohol on his breath, he has engaged in "professional misconduct" even if his mental and physical faculties are not noticeably impaired. Decision: 1 N.J.A.R. 210