‘Alarming.’ Kentucky panel revokes doctor’s license for alleged over-prescribing
A state panel has revoked the license of an Eastern Kentucky doctor who allegedly over-prescribed drugs, ignored signs of addiction among patients and didn’t provide proper treatment for some health problems.
The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure released the revocation order against Dr. Crystal K. Compton, of Pike County, this week. It is effective May 23.
Compton’s shortcomings went “beyond simple or isolated instances of incompetence, ignorance or negligence,” a hearing officer said in a report to the board.
Compton must complete an assessment of her clinical skills and pay $29,461 for the cost of the case against her before she can apply to have her license reinstated, the board said.
Compton could appeal the order.
In a response her attorney, Stephen W. Owens, provided to the board, Compton denied any wrongdoing, arguing that her patients’ medical conditions justified the prescriptions she wrote; that the doses were appropriate; and that she stopped seeing any patient suspected of abusing drugs.
Compton is a 2006 graduate of the School of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of Pikeville and practiced internal medicine, first at the East Kentucky Medical Group and later in her own practice, called The Good Doctor, according to the board’s findings.
The board started an investigation of Compton after Paula York, a pharmacist with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, looked into an anonymous complaint and reported concerns about Compton’s prescribing practices.
Among other things, York said Compton prescribed combinations of painkillers and other drugs favored by people who abuse or sell them, did not comply with a state law to check how often patients were getting prescriptions, and prescribed “quite alarming” high doses of drugs.
A consultant to the board, Dr. Neeraj Mahboob, followed up by reviewing files on 16 of Compton’s patients and said he found a range of problems, according to the board’s order.
Among other things, Mahboob said Compton did not provide good documentation for prescribing decisions, failed to try treatments other than opioid painkillers and didn’t properly require drug screens to make sure patients were not abusing or selling drugs. Mahboob also said in some cases, Compton did not order tests to better diagnose patients’ conditions.
The consultant concluded Compton focused on writing prescriptions for patients’ pain and did not give proper attention to other medical issues.
In one case, instead of addressing medical issues for a patient in his 20s that included high blood pressure and a report of rectal bleeding, Compton’s focus was on “pain, pain and more pain,” the consultant said.
The man gained more than 20 pounds his first year as a patient, but Compton didn’t address his use of a drug that could have played a role or take any action to increase monitoring of his blood pressure, weight and diet, Mahboob told the board.
Mahboob said that in his opinion, Compton’s practice represented a threat to the safety and health of patients, according to the board’s order.
