This Richland doctor’s license has been revoked

State health officials have revoked the license of a Richland doctor accused of improperly prescribing controlled substances.

Dr. Janet S. Arnold no longer is allowed to practice in Washington.

She couldn’t be reached about the revocation.

The state Department of Health announced the sanction Thursday, about nine months after Arnold was suspended for prescribing medications “in a manner violating the standard of care” and in a volume that put patients at risk.

She initially responded to the allegations and requested a hearing and the chance for a settlement. But then she missed a pre-hearing conference and officials entered an order of default, health department documents said.

Arnold owned Desert Wind Family Practice on Wellsian Way.

In documents, health officials officials alleged that Arnold “prescribed opiates for patients with chronic, non-cancer pain that was neither evidence-based nor consistent with established guidelines.”

She “did not routinely recommend non-opiate treatment for her patients, regularly prescribed chronic opiates dosed above 120 MED/day, and did not refer these patients for specialty consultation” per established rules, the health department documents said.

Additionally, she “failed to address blatant red flags of opiate misuse and failed to seek consultation for patients with poorly compensated mental health diagnoses or histories of substance abuse,” documents said, adding that she also prescribed other scheduled medications “in a manner that placed her patients at risk.”

She routinely failed to check vital signs, take a history of drug or alcohol use, perform adequate physical exams and establish symptoms or make diagnoses to support drug treatment, among other steps, documents said.

Similar issues extended into her treatment of other health issues, documents said.

Also, chart notes recorded some patients being seen and/or prescribed medications by one of Arnold’s family members, who “has no apparent medical background and is not licensed as any type of care provider by the state of Washington,” the documents said.

The issues dated back to at least 2014, documents said.

This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 6:20 PM with the headline "This Richland doctor’s license has been revoked."