Published: February 15, 2007 09:17 am      

Doctor gives up license

A former Richmond pediatrician surrendered his medical license Feb. 9 after admitting to illegally prescribing controlled substances to several patients, two being his sons.

Because of health reasons, Dr. Stephen G. Ramsay retired his medical practice in 2005 from Madison Pediatric Associates, 793 Eastern Bypass.

On Aug. 3, 2006, investigators for the state Drug Enforcement and Professional Practices Branch of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services issued a report to the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure that Ramsay was prescribing controlled substances to adults, even though his specialty was pediatrics.

According to the case file, Ramsay was interviewed July 26, 2006, by state drug enforcement investigators and admitted that he was not practicing medicine when he wrote the prescriptions.

At the time of the interview, Ramsay stated that he owned a day care and worked as a consultant for Life Mist, a distilled water distributor.

He admitted to prescribing controlled substances to two Life Mist employees. Both Lortab (painkillers) and antibiotics were prescribed to a female patient complaining of menstrual pain. The same combination was prescribed for another patient complaining of an infection caused by kidney stones.

A third patient was prescribed Lortab and Valium for back and shoulder pain caused by scoliosis.

The case file documented that “(Ramsay) also intimated that he had prescribed medications for his day care employees, their children, other co-workers at Life Mist, friends and family members. At times, this was done without any examination of the recipient. While he was concerned about his lack of professional liability insurance, he felt obligated to help people.”

A patient (named “Adult A” in the document) was interviewed and admitted to receiving approximately 786 hydrocodone (Lortab) pills from April to July 2006.

“Adult B” was then interviewed and said that he or she received five hydrocodone prescriptions during that same period.

Filing an Agreed Order of Surrender with the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure allowed Ramsay to avoid court proceedings.

According to the order, Ramsay’s medical license has been suspended “indefinitely.”

Any violation of the terms included in the order will result in additional disciplinary action, which could include criminal prosecution.

He graduated the University of Kentucky Medical School in 1982 and was licensed to practice in Kentucky on July 1, 1987, according to the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure’s online records at www.kbml.ky.gov.

Ramsay could not be reached for comment Wednesday.