Montana Doctor’s License to Be Suspended

By Pat Anson, Editor

The Montana Board of Medical Examiners voted unanimously Thursday to suspend the medical license of Dr. Mark Ibsen for unprofessional conduct, the latest chapter in a three year investigation into Ibsen’s opioid prescribing practices. A final order on the board’s ruling still needs to be drafted and voted on again. Ibsen has said he will appeal the decision.

The medical board accepted almost all of the recommendations made in a proposed order by Michael Fanning, Special Assistant Attorney General to the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, but it refused to consider lengthy allegations that Ibsen has “destructive psychological and behavioral issues.”

Ibsen was one of the last doctors in Montana willing to prescribe opioid pain medication to new patients, including many who drove hundreds of miles to see him. While that made Ibsen a folk hero of sorts in the pain community, it also attracted the attention of investigators who thought he was overprescribing opioids, and raising the risk of addiction and overdose.

“Opioid deaths are frighteningly common with one source estimating one death for every 500 opioid prescriptions written in America,” Fanning wrote in his 62-page proposed order, without citing a single case where Ibsen’s prescribing practices led to someone’s death or injury.

The case against Ibsen largely centered on nine pain patients and the incomplete records he kept on their treatment.

MARK IBSEN, MD

“Dr. Ibsen’s charts did not contain satisfactory evidence that he attempted more conservative care short of chronic opioid therapy,” Fanning wrote. “While the charts include occasional references to mental or behavioral health and rare references to interventional services, there was no consistent evidence that the more conservative option had been attempted and failed before continuing opioid therapy.”

Ibsen’s charts also did not include records of a written or oral contract with patients about their opioid use, which is a common requirement in pain management. Fanning said Ibsen also overlooked “red flags” in a patient’s behavior that could indicate signs of opioid abuse or diversion.

Last year a hearing officer recommended that Ibsen be put on probation for 180 days, but Fanning went much further, asking the board to suspend Ibsen’s medical license indefinitely. The board spent over seven hours reviewing the case and over 6,000 documents admitted as evidence before making its decision.  

“I just want to say that nothing has made me feel more ashamed to say that I am a Montanan born and raised than this kangaroo court in action,” said Gary Snook, who suffers from Arachnoiditis, a painful and disabling spinal cord disorder caused by botched spinal injections. He now gets medical treatment in California.   

“I am appalled by the total lack of understanding of the treatment of pain by these doctors. No wonder Montana has one of the highest disability rates in the nation,” Snook said in an email to Pain News Network.

“Overreaching is far too gentle a term for what occurred here. It felt like a witch hunt,” said Terri Lewis, PhD, a rehabilitation specialist and patient advocate.  “No doubt Dr. Ibsen, like many, has flaws, but holding this physician to a standard of perfection which exists in neither law nor practice makes no sense.  Maybe they will assign him a scarlet ‘O’ to wear on his chest.

“This is signal in the noise of our public confusion about the management of chronic pain.  This hearing process provides a good deal of insight into the conditions of care, or lack thereof, that both clinicians and patients find so challenging and threatening.”

One board member – who voted to suspend Ibsen’s license -- praised Ibsen for his compassion toward patients and said she hoped he would apply to have his license reinstated if he submits to professional oversight..

Publicity about the case and financial problems forced Ibsen last month to close his Urgent Care Plus clinic in Helena. Ibsen was arrested in November, not for opioid prescribing, but for a misdemeanor domestic assault charge. He has pleaded not guilty.