St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

August 1, 1987, Saturday, City Edition
Correction Appended

Board reprimands USF teacher for unlicensed drug program

BYLINE: CAROL GENTRY

SECTION: METRO AND STATE; Pg. 5B

LENGTH: 473 words

DATELINE: ORLANDO

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ORLANDO – Psychiatrists from the University of South Florida in Tampa had to make an embarrassing admission Friday.

They told the Florida Board of Medicine that they didn’t know it’s illegal for a doctor to run a narcotics-withdrawal program without a license from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Dr. Martin W. Denker, an associate professor of psychiatry at USF, was accused of providing methadone prescriptions to a mentally ill heroin addict. A New Port Richey pharmacist turned Denker in to the Department of Professional Regulation (DPR), and the DEA charged him with failure to obtain a license.

“I was unaware of the registration requirement,” Denker told the board. “I have no idea how I missed it, but I just did not know about it.”

What amazed Dr. Robert B. Katims, medical board chairman, was that the prescriptions went on for five years without any of Denker’s USF colleagues correcting him. Dr. Robert C. Fernandez, medical director of the USF Psychiatry Center, explained why.

“I regret to tell you, I was also unaware (of the law), as were my colleagues,” he said, adding that “we have taken action” to make sure everyone knows.

Roger Lutz, a lay member of the board, said: “If there should be one place where they should know what you can and can’t do under the law, it should be a medical school – especially a state-supported medical school. It’s really disturbing.”

Fernandez asked the board not to impose probation for Denker, as DPR had recommended, because it would permanently taint his record. It might make him ineligible for staff privileges at some hospitals and make it hard for him to get or keep a job, Fernandez said.

Denker, said Fernandez, is “an excellent psychiatrist in whom I have the utmost confidence. He’s willing to work with the most difficult cases, those that often are rejected by others.”

Denker’s attorney, Grover Freeman, pointed out that his client has been licensed for 19 years without any problems and that no one was injured by this “technical violation” of law.

Dr. Kathryn Stuart, a board member, agreed that the error was based on ignorance. “I don’t think they’re likely to make the same mistake twice,” she said.

Others agreed, and the board dropped the probation requirement.

Denker was reprimanded, fined $ 1,000 and ordered to attend classes on prescription drug abuse. He also lost his right to prescribe narcotics and some other controlled drugs for one year.