Doctor’s loss of license could be test case

By Timothy Pratt

Monday, June 30, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.

A state board's revocation of a Las Vegas doctor's license to practice medicine may turn into a court case involving how far a doctor can go in assisting a person who wants to die.

The Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners last week issued an order to take away Dr. Kenneth D. Mower's right to practice medicine in the state of Nevada based on a "finding (that he) administered a lethal dose of morphine to a patient who was not terminally ill," according to a press release.

But Mower denied the charges and called the board " a kangaroo court."

"They treated me very, very poorly and never asked me any questions and didn't listen to my side of the story," Mower said.

The board did not return repeated calls about the case Friday and today. In one call, board General Counsel Richard J. Legarza said he would not answer questions about the case, but said "this is not about euthanasia -- the action was taken because of malpractice."

The board's decision says that the incident involved a woman who was brought to the emergency room at Desert Springs Hospital after "attempt(ing) to commit suicide by taking a large amount of prescription medications" on July 19, 2002.

According to the board's documents regarding the license revocation:

The patient arrived at the hospital at 2:59 p.m. and was classified as a "do not resuscitate" patient by an emergency room doctor named Dr. Darden at 3:55 p.m.

By 7:05 p.m., when Mower saw the patient, she was breathing at 3 breaths per minute. Mower gave her 100 milligrams of morphine from 7:07 to 7:22. He pronounced her dead at 7:50 p.m.

Mower, who has been practicing medicine for 23 years, said the patient was terminally ill and he noted that her living will specified that she didn't want to be put on life support.

The doctor said he would seek a judicial review of the decision in District Court and could not discuss the details of the incident. He said the patient's husband supported the decision to give her morphine.

The board documents do not indicate the source of the original complaint about Mower's actions. The complaint was filed in November.

Mower said he was being made "a poster boy" for the board's effort to improve its image in the media and before the public.

"It's been a problem with the board in the past ... that they've had a reputation for not being tough enough with errant doctors," Mower said.

In March a national nonprofit issued a report saying that Nevada's board had one of the worst records in the country in 2002 when it came to disciplining doctors.

Washington-based watchdog Public Citizen's Health Research Group said the state disciplined 2.31 of every 1,000 doctors, ranking the state as the 11th worst in the nation.

At the time Larry Lessly, executive director for the board, said Nevada licenses only the most qualified physicians and so should not have to discipline many physicians.

"I do not put a lot faith in (the report)," Board President Cheryl Hug-English said in a press report at the time.

Meanwhile, Mower, 53, said he would challenge what he called an "arbitrary and capricious action," and hoped to return to his practice.

"I don't have any other skills and it's pretty late to start over at something else," he said.

In addition to its action against Mower, the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners also fined Rene Claudia Bovelle $5,000 for practicing medicine in Las Vegas while holding an inactive license and ordered her to take additional courses in ethics and pay the $6,000 it cost to hold a hearing.