Doctor's license suspended after clinic raided

 HAMILTON (AP) — A state board has indefinitely suspended the medical license of a Florence physician after two of his patients who were prescribed methadone died from overdoses.

Dr. Chris A. Christensen prescribed his patients “excess pills” in “dangerous combinations and quantities of drugs which are known to decrease respiration, posing a risk of death to the patient,” the Montana Board of Medical Examiners wrote in its order suspending Christensen’s license after an emergency hearing Monday. The board said Christensen did not properly counsel patients on the risks of the drug combinations and failed to adequately monitor their use.

No criminal charges have been filed. Monday’s order doesn’t say when the patients died.

Christensen released a statement Tuesday through his attorney, John Smith of Missoula, saying millions of people have chronic pain disorder, often accompanied by anxiety and sleep disorders.

“Some physicians must be willing to take on the full range of treatment, which includes prescribing narcotic pain medications that have abuse and addiction potential,” the statement read.

Christensen has 20 days to appeal his suspension.

Christensen gave up his medical license in Idaho for two years, starting in 2001, and underwent a six-month pain-management course after the Idaho State Board of Medicine said he prescribed drugs that resulted in a patient’s death.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Idaho five years later on charges that he unlawfully dispensed a controlled substance that resulted in a patient’s death. Also in 2006, he was charged with several counts of improperly dispensing controlled substances. He was not convicted in either case.

Christensen’s clinic — Big Creek Family Medicine and Urgent Care — was raided April 1 by the Ravalli County sheriff’s office and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency along with a Board of Medical Examiners investigator. Ravalli County officials said the raid was the culmination of a two-year investigation into Christensen’s prescribing practices.

The state board’s investigation into Christensen began in January after some of his patients filed a complaint against a pharmacist who refused to fill prescriptions written by Christensen.

The Board of Pharmacy found the pharmacist properly exercised his professional judgment to refuse to fill the prescriptions. The board then issued its complaint against Christensen.

The medical board found Christensen prescribed one chronic pain patient an average of 67 methadone tablets per day between August 2012 and December 2012, while over the longer period of time between August 2013 and October 2013, Christensen prescribed that patient an average of 45 tablets of the synthetic opioid per day. Methadone is commonly used for pain management or to aid in the withdrawal from heroin.

One pharmacy refused to fill Christensen’s narcotics prescriptions until the doctor filled out a treatment plan for that patient. All 43 treatment plans Christensen submitted on behalf of his patients called for an “indefinite period of narcotic treatment” with anticipated “gradual self-weaning after 2 years,” the board found.

After the raid, the county health department issued a statement recommending that patients of Christensen begin tapering their use of narcotics to wean themselves from the drugs.

The board investigator reported Christensen’s patient charts “demonstrate irresponsible and substandard prescribing of controlled substances.” She also found his charting and medical records were often illegible and substandard, that the confidentiality of patient records was not protected, and blank prescription pads were lying around within access of patients.

Charges were filed against Christensen in Idaho in 2006, also over his prescription-writing practices.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge that he unlawfully dispensed methadone and Xanax to a patient who died after ingesting both drugs together. The doctor who did the autopsy found the patient’s death was an accident as a result of taking both medications.

Christensen’s attorney, David Dokken, successfully argued for the charges to be dismissed, nothing there was no provision in the law for a death caused by a drug like Xanax. The state could not prove that methadone alone caused the death.

Christensen also was charged with 18 counts of dispensing controlled substances outside the scope of professional practice and not for legitimate medical purposes. The state of Idaho alleged Christensen knew his patients were selling the prescribed drugs on the street.

Federal court records show jurors acquitted Christensen on nine of the counts and the government dismissed the other nine.