ALJDEC decisions subject to certification as final

04A-2483-PAB · Arizona Medical Board · 2005-02-14

IN THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

HEARING: February 9, 2005. APPEARANCES: The Arizona Regulatory Board of Physician Assistants was represented by Assistant Attorney General Stephen A. Wolf. Respondent William A. Roberts, Jr., P.A.-C. appeared personally. ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE: Brian Brendan Tully _____________________________________________________________________ Evidence and testimony were presented and, based upon the entire record in this matter, the following Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Recommended Order are made:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The Arizona Regulatory Board of Physician Assistants (“Arizona Board”) is the duly constituted authority for licensing and regulating physician assistants in the State of Arizona. 2. Respondent William A. Roberts, Jr., P.A.-C. is the holder of License No. 2483 to practice as a physician assistant in the State of Arizona. 3. On or about February 12, 2001, Respondent submitted an application for licensure as a physician assistant to the Arizona Board. According to Respondent’s testimony at hearing, he previously had been issued a license by the Arizona Board but that license had expired. 4. When Respondent signed and submitted his 2001 application for licensure to the Arizona Board, he swore that:

I have carefully read the questions in the foregoing application and have answered them completely, without reservations on any kind, and I declare under the penalty of perjury that my answers and all statements made by me herein are true and correct. Should I furnish false information in this application, I hereby agree that such act shall constitute cause for denial, suspension or revocation of my License to perform health care tasks as a physician assistant in the State of Arizona.

5. In the 2001 application, Respondent was asked the following questions:

9. Have you ever had a license revoked; suspended; limited; restricted; placed on probation; voluntarily surrendered or canceled during an investigation or in lieu of disciplinary action; or entered into a consent agreement or stipulation?

18. Have you ever taken leave of absence during your physician assistant training program, preceptorship training, or any other practice?

6. Respondent knowingly, falsely, misleadingly and fraudulently answered “no” to those questions. 7. On or about July 14, 1998, Respondent was arrested in Beatty, Nevada for unlawful possession or use of a controlled substance, a category E felony. 8. Respondent then took leave of absence from his medical practice and, under the auspices of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners’ Diversion Program and in lieu of disciplinary action by the Nevada Board, underwent in-patient substance abuse evaluation and possibly treatment at the COPAC facility outside of Jackson, Mississippi. 9. Respondent has refused to authorize the COPAC facility to release Respondent’s records to the Arizona Board during its investigation. The Nevada Board no longer has those records. Neither the Board nor Respondent is aware of the diagnosis formulated by that facility. 10. Respondent later entered a plea of guilty to one count of unlawful possession (not for purpose of sale) of one ounce or less of marijuana, a misdemeanor offense. 11. In a narrative response provided to the Arizona Board on June 3, 2004, Respondent admitted:

I applied for licensure in Arizona and Did Not Answer the Questions Honestly…The reason I did not answer the questions honestly was that I was scared, angry and terrified that if I answered honestly that I would not get the license and that I wouldn’t be able to work again and I needed the money badly…I did think about it and I made a conscious decision to lie, to save my career.

12. Based upon Respondent’s knowing, false, misleading and fraudulent answers to questions 9 and 18 of his 2001 application, the Arizona Board issued him an Arizona physician assistant’s license on June 6, 2001. 13. Respondent procured his Arizona physician assistant’s license by fraud and misrepresentation. 14. On or about April 22, 1999, Respondent submitted an application for licensure as a physician assistant to the Physician Assistant Committee (“Committee”) of the Medical Board of California (“California Board”). 15. On that application, Respondent listed the 1998 misdemeanor conviction in Nevada for possession of marijuana. 16. The Committee issued a physician assistant license to Respondent on September 20, 1999. 17. After the Committee issued Respondent a license, it discovered from a search of his fingerprints that on September 19, 1996, Respondent had entered a plea of no contest to one count of domestic violence, a misdemeanor offense, in Arizona. He was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation. 18. Respondent failed to disclose that domestic violence conviction on his application for California licensure. 19. Respondent’s failure to disclose that domestic violence conviction on his application for California licensure violated Calf. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 498 (securing a license by fraud, deceit, or knowing misrepresentation of a material fact or by knowingly omitting to state a material fact); 2234(e) (committing any act involving dishonesty or corruption which is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a physician or surgeon); and 2234(f) (any action or conduct which would have warranted the denial of a certificate). 20. On November 20, 2002, the California Board entered into a Stipulated Settlement and Disciplinary Order (“California Order”) with Respondent wherein he admitted those acts of unprofessional conduct in his 1999 California license application and received a stayed revocation with five years probation. 21. On or about December 2, 2000, Respondent was arrested for violating the terms of a protective order. On or about December 29, 2000, Respondent entered a plea of guilty to the misdemeanor crime of domestic violence/interfering with judicial proceedings and was sentenced to eight months of supervised probation followed by 12 months of unsupervised probation, a fine of $1,500.00 and other terms. Respondent has not paid the fine. 22. Respondent failed to comply with the terms of his California probation, including the payment of $3,021.41 for the California Board’s costs, which he had voluntarily agreed to comply with. He permitted his California physician assistant license to expire. 23. On or about September 29, 2003, Respondent submitted his 2002-2003 license renewal form to the Arizona Board. 24. On that renewal form, Respondent was asked the following question:

2. Have you been convicted of Medicare or Medicaid fraud, been sanctioned or disciplined, or entered into an agreement with a state or federal agency concerning a denial, limitation, restriction, suspension or revocation of your license, or removal from practice?

25. Respondent knowingly, falsely and misleadingly answered “no” to that question. 26. At the hearing Respondent volunteered that he had intentionally omitted his marijuana conviction in his original application for licensure to the Arizona Board in 1997. 27. By letter dated June 7, 2004, Douglas H. Snow, D.O., Respondent’s supervising physician of record, advised Board staff, that he had not known about Respondent’s domestic violence charges and false/misleading information given to the licensing boards in California and Arizona until they were brought to his attention by Board staff. He further advised that Respondent was no longer employed by his clinic. 28. Respondent is not presently working as a physician assistant. In September 2004, Respondent received an unrestricted physician assistant license issued by the licensing authority in the State of Hawaii. 29. Respondent contends that he did not have an ethical obligation to answer the license application questions accurately because they are nobody’s business. In fact, Respondent described the Board’s investigation of him as fascistic proceedings. 30. Respondent is found to be ungovernable. He has shown a consistent pattern of knowingly, falsely and misleadingly submitting applications to licensing authorities. He views state regulation of his practice as a physician assistant as fascism. As such, Respondent’s practice as a physician assistant in the State of Arizona poses a risk to the public health and safety. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. The Arizona Board possesses jurisdiction over the subject matter and over Respondent pursuant to A.R.S. § 32-2501 et seq. 2. The conduct and circumstances described in the above Findings of Fact constitute unprofessional conduct by Respondent pursuant to A.R.S. § 32-2501(21)(n) (procuring or attempting to procure a physician assistant license by fraud, misrepresentation or knowingly taking advantage of the mistake of another). Securing a license to perform health care tasks by fraud or deceit is a class 6 felony. A.R.S. § 32- 2554(A)(2). 3. The conduct and circumstances described in the above Findings of Fact constitute unprofessional conduct by Respondent pursuant to A.R.S. § 32-2501(21)(bb) (knowingly making a false or misleading statement on a form required by the Board or in written correspondence or attachments furnished to the Board). 4. The conduct and circumstances described in the above Findings of Fact constitute unprofessional conduct by Respondent pursuant to A.R.S. § 32-2501(21)(v) (having a certification or license refused, revoked, suspended, limited or restricted by any other licensing jurisdiction for the inability to safely and skillfully perform health care tasks or for unprofessional conduct as defined by that jurisdiction that directly or indirectly corresponds to any act of unprofessional conduct as prescribed by this paragraph). 5. The California Board took action against Respondent’s physician assistant license on the basis of stipulated findings of unprofessional conduct in its Decision dated November 20, 2002. Those findings of unprofessional conduct by Respondent correspond directly or indirectly to the following acts of unprofessional conduct prescribed by Arizona law:

a). Procuring or attempting to procure a physician assistant license by fraud, misrepresentation or knowingly taking advantage of the mistake of another. A.R.S. § 32-2501(21)(n). b). Knowingly making a false or misleading statement on a form required by the Board or in written correspondence or attachments furnished to the Board. A.R.S. § 32-2501(21)(bb).

6. The evidence of record supports the revocation of Respondent’s Arizona physician assistant license for his unprofessional conduct in this matter for the protection of the public health and safety. A.R.S. § 32- 2551(J). 7. The evidence of record supports charging the costs of the formal hearing in this matter to Respondent. A.R.S. § 32-2551(M).

RECOMMENDED ORDER

In view of the foregoing, it is recommended that Respondent’s License No. 2483 to practice as a physician assistant in the State of Arizona be revoked on the effective date of the entered Order in this matter. It is further recommended, in addition to the revocation of Respondent’s License No. 2483, that Respondent be assessed the costs of the formal hearing in this matter. Said costs shall be paid by Respondent no later than 90 days from the date of the Board’s invoice for those costs, unless such deadline date is extended by the Board. No future license shall be issued to Respondent by the Board unless those costs have been paid in full.

Done this day, February 14, 2005.

______________________________________ Brian Brendan Tully Administrative Law Judge

Original transmitted by mail this ____ day of ____________, 2005, to:

Timothy C. Miller, Esq. Executive Director Arizona Medical Board ATTN: Susan Ahn, Legal Coordinator 9545 East Doubletree Ranch Road Scottsdale, AZ 85258

By ___________________________ -----------------------

Office of Administrative Hearings 1400 West Washington, Suite 101 Phoenix, Arizona 85007 (602) 542-9826