SKOWHEGAN — A Skowhegan doctor has been fined by the state licensing board for failing to identify an incorrect medication given to a patient who later died.

Dr. Deep Acharya accepted a reprimand and was fined $1,000 in a consent agreement with the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine, according to a news release from the board on Tuesday.

The board received information from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services regarding the death of the patient, according to the release. Acharya gave out the medication, which a day earlier had been prescribed to the patient by another practitioner.

An incorrect and excessive dose of medication had been included in instructions when the patient was discharged from the hospital and Acharya did not notice the error, according to the release.

Acharya admitted to the licensing board that he thought the medication had been specifically prescribed to the patient and that the incorrect dosage “did not strike his attention,” according to the release by Randal Manning at the state board.

“Dr. Acharya admitted that, looking back, he would have paid closer attention to the medication reconciliation process, which would have helped him identify the abnormal drug dosing,” according to the release.

Two other medical practitioners in Skowhegan also were fined and reprimanded by the board in February, but it was not clear Wednesday if they were connected to Acharya’s case.

Dr. Florello Quianzon and Kathleen Lees, a physician assistant, also listed by the board as working in Skowhegan, were fined $1,000 each following the death of a patient. Incorrect medication in an excessive dose was given in that incident, according to press releases from the board in February.

Quianzon indicated that neither he, the physician assistant, nor the discharge nurse caught the mistake.

The patient in the Acharya case was not identified. The release does not say where Acharya or Quianzon worked, but they both are listed on Healthgrades.com, a physicians’ database and other websites, as being employed at Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan.

Richard Willett, chief executive officer at the hospital, was out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment.

Maureen S. Lathrop, secretary associate at Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine, referred all questions Wednesday to Manning, the board’s executive director who is also out of town this week and unavailable for comment.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com

 

Copy the Story Link