Dr.
Roger Lallemand Jr, 39, and the Board reached
an interim consent order whereby he agreed
to stop practicing medicine today. Lallemand
also agreed to return his Controlled Dangerous
Substances registration so he can no longer
prescribe these prescription drugs.
The
interim consent order will remain in place
until the Board holds a plenary hearing
on the Complaint filed by the Attorney General
against Lallemand on May 1, and considers
further action against his license.
The Complaint filed earlier this month alleges
that Lallemand did not perform adequate
physical examinations of patients before
prescribing large quantities of powerful
painkillers to them. The Complaint further
alleges that Lallemand routinely prescribed
testosterone to patients at excessively
high dosages with no medical necessity.
According
to the Complaint, Lallemand continued to
prescribe large quantities of high dosage
painkillers to patients even after urine
test results indicated that the patients
were not taking the painkillers. He also
allegedly falsified at least one patient
treatment record to substantiate the prescriptions.
Lallemand
also allegedly lacks adequate training for
some of the medical procedures he performed,
including those related to physical rehabilitation,
pain management and testosterone treatment,
among others.
“We
believe Dr. Lallemand poses a clear and
imminent danger to the public and cannot
be allowed to remain in practice pending
the plenary hearing,” Attorney General
Jeffrey S. Chiesa said. “We were prepared
to ask the Board to act today, if the interim
consent order was not agreed to, in order
to protect the public.”
The
Complaint arises from investigations conducted
by the Division of Consumer Affairs’
Enforcement Bureau and the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration.
According
to the Complaint, an undercover DEA agent
posing as a patient came to Lallemand’s
office multiple times beginning in late
2011. The agent complained of discomfort
in his lower back and buttocks and stated
that he had not received any physical therapy.
He asked Lallemand for Roxicodone, a prescription
painkiller, and received a prescription
for 56, 30-milligram pills. No physical
examination was conducted, other than the
doctor touching the agent’s knee and
asking if the agent could feel it.
In
subsequent visits, the agent allegedly received
prescriptions for Oxycodone, Roxicodone
and Xanax. Lallemand noted in the patient
record that the agent stated his pain was
worse, and that he was experiencing muscle
spasms, when no such comments were made
to the doctor.
The
investigations also involved the review
of actual patient records. That review allegedly
revealed that Lallemand failed to adequately
monitor patients and failed to adequately
document the effectiveness of various pain
medications.
In
one case, a patient prescribed Oxycodone
showed no trace of the painkiller in his
urine sample, an indicator of possible diversion
for illegal use by non-patients. The urine
sample tested positive for the presence
of cocaine, but Lallemand allegedly failed
to send the patient to an addiction specialist.
Regarding
testosterone, Lallemand prescribed steroids
to three patients, two male and one female,
after he diagnosed each as having hormone
deficiency. However, all three showed testosterone
levels above maximum acceptable levels upon
retesting after their treatments began.