AUGUSTA, Maine — A medical doctor from Illinois agreed this week to immediately and voluntarily surrender his license to practice in Maine in a consent decree signed Tuesday, according to a spokesman for the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine.
In the decree, Dr. James Frede — who did not practice medicine in Maine despite being licensed to do so — acknowledged that the board had sufficient information from which it could conclude that his conduct in prescribing drugs to patients he never met nor physically examined could constitute incompetence and unprofessional conduct.
This action means that Dr. Frede may not practice medicine in the state of Maine. Frede currently practices in Hawaii, according to board spokesman Randall Manning.
Medical licensing board members in Maine received information that the state of Illinois had indefinitely suspended Frede’s medical license.
In the disciplinary document from that state, Frede neither admitted nor denied he had issued prescriptions for noncontrolled substances over the Internet but acknowledged that the Illinois Medical Board could find that he engaged in such conduct.
In a letter to the Maine board, Frede indicated that he had acted as a consultant for a health service agency where “patients were connected by telephone after a history was obtained.” He further said that the Illinois board considered these activities “improper” and that he no longer is acting as a consultant for the health service agency.
All state board disciplinary actions are reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, the Health Integrity and Protection Data Bank and the Federation of State Medical Boards Action Data Bank. These reports are regularly reviewed by every state licensing board in the country.
The Maine board comprises six physicians and three public members appointed by the governor. Information about disciplinary actions taken by the board is available to the public by calling 287-3601 or visiting www.maine.gov/md.
The Board of Licensure in Medicine is the state agency charged with protecting the health and welfare of the public by verifying the qualifications of physicians to practice and disciplining those who engage in unprofessional conduct and incompetence.
Any resident can request an investigation of a physician or physician assistant by calling 287-3608, by letter or by visiting the board’s website.
“The Board of Licensure in Medicine is the state agency charged with protecting the health and welfare of the public by verifying the qualifications of physicians to practice and disciplining those who engage in unprofessional conduct and incompetence.” Funny. As with the social licensing board, Dir Anne Head DOES NOT protect the health and welfare of the public. She and the board protect the sw’s, and many of the other so-called professionals. Disgusting what they are doing. And appalling, the people they are hurting for the rest of their lives.
The Board of Licensure did its job. This is good.
one out of thousands….probably could be better
Let me guess, he was prescribing “medical marijuana” for a “health agency”?
The AMA must be pretty powerful as they allow disgraced MDs to move from state to state. There should be a public, national registry so prospective hospitals (and patients) can see what kind of “issues” a dr has before they hire them.
Reminds me of the catholic church
Part of the new medical plan developed by the Obama administration is to develop integrated computer records to reduce redundancy in paperwork. Seems like the first step to me.
The flip side of the prescription painkiller epidemic that no one wanted to talk about back in the eighties, when the first Bush administration gave the go-ahead for pharmaceutical companies to start making that junk.
They never mention the doctors, when some broke, strung-out person ends up in the news for robbing a franchise pharmacy.
Crime control and the cost savings that go with it begin with responsible social policies.