• Gardner doctor's medical license suspended for improper prescribing

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  By Susan Spencer
  Telegram & Gazette Staff
  

  
  Posted Jul. 28, 2016 at 4:38 PM
  
  
  

  The medical license of a physician affiliated with Heywood Hospital in Gardner, Athol Hospital and Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington was suspended Tuesday at an emergency meeting of the state Board of Registration in Medicine.

  According to a news release from the board, Robert B. Shepherd, D.O., 57, was deemed to pose "an immediate and serious threat to the public health, saftey and welfare" for allegedly prescribing to two individuals medications that were not for legitimate purposes and not in the usual course of his medical practice.

  A doctor of osteopathy is a fully licensed physician who practices in all areas of medicine, emphasizing a whole-person approach to treatment and care, according to the American Osteopathic Association.

  Dr. Shepherd is board certified in family medicine and has been licensed to practice in Massachusetts since 1990.

  He was listed until Thursday afternoon on the Heywood Hospital website as a hospitalist associated with the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine. Hospital representatives did not return phone messages for comment.

  The statement of allegations by the Board of Registration in Medicine detailed two incidents in which Dr. Shepherd prescribed medication to women with whom he was in a dating relationship, in violation of the American Medical Association's Code of Medical Ethics. He also did not keep medical records for their treatment, a violation of the state board's Prescribing Practices Policy and Guidelines.

  In 2013 and 2014, he prescribed hydrocodone with acetaminophen (sold under the trade name Vicodin) and oxycodone with acetaminophen (Percocet) to one woman, with whom he had been engaged to marry.
  

  Between January 2015 and May 2016, Dr. Shepherd wrote 13 prescriptions for Klonopin, a benzodiazepine used for panic disorders and seizures, and two prescriptions for the anti-diarrheal drug Lomotil, for another woman he was dating.

  Dr. Shepherd did not keep medical records for the women, despite his prescribing of controlled substances to them, according to the board's allegations.

  The second woman, who received medications in the past year, had lived with Dr. Shepherd at his home in Rutland before a break-in there last September. Dr. Shepherd reported to police that approximately 10 firearms, two gun safes and a $3,000 coin collection had been stolen.

  Dr. Shepherd had come home while the burglary was in progress and saw a man leave. The man reportedly told Dr. Shepherd he was there to pick up the woman Dr. Shepherd was dating. Dr. Shepherd told police that at some point before the break-in, he had asked the woman to leave his home because she had a "heroin habit," the allegations stated.

  Dr. Shepherd told police the next week that, according to the woman, the man he saw leave his house had stolen the weapons and coins as payment owed for a past drug deal.

  In separate incidents in February and June this year, Dr. Shepherd was with two women who overdosed — one at his house and one in Gardner — and were revived with Narcan.

  He also allegedly made false statements to Gardner Police in June about the identity of a woman who was in his car when he was stopped for traffic violations, who had an active arrest warrant relating to a larceny case.

  In April, Dr. Shepherd struck a pedestrian with his motor vehicle as he was leaving his driveway, scraping the pedestrian's legs. He was issued a criminal citation for negligent driving but failed to appear in court for arraignment. He was arrested July 18 at home on a default warrant.

  The state board also received documents from Athol Hospital and Heywood Hospital indicating Dr. Shepherd had been the subject of "numerous complaints" during his employment.

  He does not have a disciplinary history with the board, according to a Board of Registration records access officer.

  Dr. Shepherd has the right to a hearing at the Division of Administrative Law Appeals within seven days.