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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Federal law enforcement agents recently raided a Clarksville clinic, just a month after the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners placed the physician there on probation.
According to Mark Wildasin, a spokesperson for the U.S. District Attorney, the office was searched on June 25 by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and other agencies.
Dr. Ramon Aquino, owner and doctor at North Clarksville Medical Clinic, was put on probation on May 29 and was told he could no longer prescribe opioids to his patients.
According to the consent order, the Board of Medical Examiners reviewed case files for 21 patients who had been prescribed controlled substances, noting that patient records were not maintained with updated examinations or medical histories. Aquino also admitted that he did not monitor the Controlled Substance Monitoring Database when prescribing medications.
Aquino also provided prescriptions for patients who had a history of illegal substances showing up on their drug screens, noting that he monitored them by “a matter of trust.”
“[Aquino] admitted that he sometimes prescribes the ‘cocktail’ of benzodiazepine, opioid, and Soma (carisoprodol)n even knowing this is not the right thing to do, but indicated that his patients want it,” according to the order.
Additionally, the order notes that Aquino did not document treatment plans, increased doses without medical necessity, and failed to provide patients with information regarding the addiction risk of the medications.
Aquino was given a three-year probation, including a one-year suspension of his ability to prescribe opiates or Soma. He was also fined $9,250 in civil penalties and expenses.
This is not Aquino’s first time to be reprimanded by the Board. In March 2014, the board reviewed 30 patient files and found that the doctor was prescribing opiates that were not “medically necessary.”
At that time, he was made to take mandated educational courses as well as pay civil penalties.
That same year, Aquino was also sued by the wife of a deceased patient. Pamela Sheppard alleged that the physician failed to recognize and diagnose her husband’s bladder cancer from 2009 to 2012, despite repeated tests showing traces of blood in his urine. When Sheppard finally went to a urologist, the cancer had already spread to his spine, hips, and legs.
Aquino settled the civil case in 2015.
