A state licensing board has reprimanded and fined a Maine doctor who issued medical marijuana certificates to nearly 60 patients over two days at seminars he hosted at hotels in Orono.
Dr. William Ortiz, an internist, was disciplined by the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine for failing to create and maintain adequate medical records for those patients and for the “manner and location” of his medical marijuana clinics, held in March 2013.
Ortiz signed a consent agreement with the board on Sept. 9.
The Maine Medical Marijuana Program alleged to the board in April 2013 that Ortiz saw patients who traveled from all over the state to obtain a medical marijuana certificate, charging each $200 cash. Ortiz allegedly provided certificates for a three-month period, then required patients to make a follow-up visit, at a cost of $175 cash, to obtain a subsequent one-year certificate, according to his consent agreement.
He hosted the clinics at a rented conference room at the University Motor Inn on March 20 and 21, 2013, seeing 44 patients, some as late as 3 a.m., the state program told the board. The hotel’s owner/manager asked Ortiz to stop the activity.
In a written response to the complaint, Ortiz said he also saw another 15 patients on March 21, 2013, at the Black Bear Inn in Orono.
Forty of the 59 individuals he saw over the two days were new patients.
The board issued a subpoena to Ortiz to obtain the patients’ medical records, finding 44
records lacked any documentation that he performed an examination. The records also contained “sparse information regarding Dr. Ortiz’s medical decision making” and included no treatment plan, according to the consent agreement.
The board ruled that “by conducting these clinics at local hotels, through all hours, and with too numerous a patient load, Dr. Ortiz created a negative impression of his activities that reflects badly on the medical profession.”
He was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and reimburse the board $1,412 for the cost of its investigation. Ortiz agreed to refrain from similar conduct in the future.
He described to the board his personal experience using medical marijuana to relieve chronic pain, and said he understood the importance of establishing a doctor-patient relationship, according to the consent agreement.
On his website, The Health Clinic LLC, Ortiz lists a corporate office in Caribou, with additional locations in Holyoke and Northborough, Massachusetts.
Ortiz has been licensed to practice medicine in Maine since February 2012. His license was temporarily suspended during the board’s investigation.
Ortiz may renew his license upon payment of the fine and reimbursement costs, the consent agreement states.
