KY doctor suspended after authorities investigate if he wrote prescriptions outside U.S.

Authorities have suspended the license of a Kentucky doctor after an allegation that he wrote prescriptions while he was out of the country.

The emergency suspension of Dr. Pablo A. Merced, whose office is in Breathitt County, was effective Saturday.

Merced, who was at his clinic Monday morning, told the Herald-Leader he hadn’t yet seen the order from the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, but would contact his attorney about the issue.

“I do not believe I did anything wrong,” Merced said.

Merced said he was at a conference on the dates cited in the complaint, not out of the country, and dealt with patients remotely, by way of telemedicine.

The board said in a complaint against Merced that the Office of Inspector General, which is in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, reviewed prescriptions written by Merced when he “may have been out of the country” in May and July 2019.

Merced prescribed controlled substances to more than 280 people on the 11 days reviewed, according to the complaint.

On six of those days, Merced would had to have seen patients a total of more than 13 hours a day to justify the bills he submitted to Medicaid, the complaint said.

Based on the allegation that Merced wasn’t in the country on those days, the Inspector General’s Office recommended a review of some of Merced’s patient files.

A consultant looked through 14 files and said Merced fell short of acceptable medical practices.

The charts appeared to cut and paste notes from different patient encounters, with no meaningful, individualized assessment and plan, the consultant said.

The consultant said Merced mostly prescribed Suboxone to patients. That is a drug used in treating opioid addiction because it curbs withdrawal symptoms, but can also be abused.

Merced prescribed the drug without sufficient monitoring or counseling; did not address drug tests that indicated patients might not be using the drug properly, and didn’t try to help taper patients off the drug, the consultant said.

The consultant’s opinion was that Merced’s practice represented a threat to the safety and well-being of patients.

Merced did not respond to several requests for him to respond to the findings, according to the complaint from the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure.

A panel of the board said there is probable cause to believe Merced’s practice poses a danger to patients or the public and issued an emergency order suspending his license. That bars him from practicing medicine until the complaint is resolved.

Merced told the Herald-Leader that he had adequate notes on patients and provided proper treatment.

Merced attended medical school in the Philippines, graduating in 1970, and has been licensed in Kentucky since 1986.

His specialty is family medicine.