Barson v. Md. Bd. of Physicians (Summary)

LICENSURE ACTION – ENFORCEMENT OF CONSENT ORDER

Barson v. Md. Bd. of Physicians, No. 2673, Sept. Term, 2011 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. May 3, 2013)

The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of an anesthesiologist’s petition for judicial review. The board of medicine began investigating the anesthesiologist after reports that she was sending prescriptions for painkillers through the mail without conducting appropriate examinations. The board issued an order suspending the physician’s license and declined to reinstate her at a hearing. Before proceeding to an evidentiary hearing, the board and the physician entered into a consent order in which the physician’s license remained suspended for 90 days and on probation for at least two years. After both parties had signed, the physician requested that the order be modified so that she might have access to DEA or CDS registration – she claimed that she was not aware these registrations would be forfeited upon signing the consent order.

The appellate court held that the lower court did not err in declining judicial review. The court stated that the anesthesiologist knowingly and voluntarily waived her rights to challenge the terms of the consent order. She agreed to the “no backsies” rule of the order and must be bound by it.