Ben Kuharich, DO vs Washington BOM

It is a bad omen when a simple doctor like myself can predict the future. Well, my prediction is coming true. A year ago I exposed the Washington State Standard of Care Law as a future attack on physicians. (click HERE) Now we have a doctor going through the first stage of this attack.

Generally when a doctor has been targeted by the government, their puppet arm, the state medical board, steps in to pad the file with a paper trail.  On June 4, 2018 the Washington Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery charged Ben Kuharich, DO, of Silverdale, WA, with unprofessional conduct, alleging he violated the standard of care in treating patients with opioids. The charges are about his treatment of eight patients that the board states represent an “extreme departure from the standard of care in chronic pain management and the practice of medicine.”

According to the BOM’s statement of charges, the definition of what is considered unprofessional conduct are:  

1. Incompetence, negligence, or malpractice which results in injury or which creates an unreasonable risk that a patient may be harmed.
2. The prescription for use of controlled substances in any way other than for legitimate or therapeutic purposes.
3. Violation of any state or federal statute requlating the profession in question, including any statute defining or establishing standards of patient care or professional conduct or practice.

The statement of charges against Dr. Kuharich has the usual bogus violations used against doctors across the country—doctors that are doing their job professionally, accurately, and safely. When are they going to break the code that not a single one of them is safe from this kind of attack and they need to join Doctors of Courage?

Dr. Kuharich has denied the charges. A specialist in Interventional Pain Management, he formerly practiced at Seattle Pain Centers, the clinics owned and operated by Dr. Frank Li, but left in 2015 to join The Doctors Clinic in Silverdale.

Jay Burghart, the CEO of Doctors Clinic, said he was “shocked and disappointed” by the state’s decision to bring charges against Kuharich.

“Like all of our community doctors, Dr. Kuharich upholds the high standards of patient care demanded by the Doctors Clinic and abides by all Washington state medical guidelines and best practices,”

Dr. Kuharich believes, as I do, that the board was pursuing charges against him because he previously worked at Seattle Pain Centers. The government could use him against Dr. Li and this attack gives them bargaining power.

“It is a statement of fact that I have never had an adverse outcome related to any prescription I have ever written and there has never been any risk to the community related to any professional or private action that I have taken,”

Among its allegations: Kuharich failed to adequately screen opioid patients for risk factors that could lead to abuse, diversion or addiction; didn’t take action when patients failed drug tests or admitted to misusing prescriptions; didn’t create plans to taper patients off opioids; increased doses without justification; and was lax in monitoring patients. But Dr. Kuharich asserts that the board’s allegations are contradicted by medical records for his patients. He counters the charges, stating that each of his patients underwent “rigorous” risk assessments before beginning treatment and were screened for drug diversion and abuse at each follow up visit. All the patients had been started on opioids prior to his taking over their care. He tried non-opioid therapies. Some patients responded well to opioid-based treatment and a taper was not appropriate. Others were started on tapers. This type of decision-making is the doctor’s alone.

Only one of the patients listed in the board’s statement of charges failed a drug screening. That patient tested positive for alcohol, but Kuharich said he only saw the patient once, and the results of the screening were not available at the time of the visit. This shows how the BOM takes information out of context and, like the DOJ, creates a crime where there is no crime.

Supposedly Dr. Kuharich has stopped prescribing opioids. Too bad, as the interventional treatments he probably now depends on are more harmful to patients than the opioids. But doctors now have to choose in a climate that threatens their livelihood. What we need to do is stop government overreach into the doctor’s office and let doctors do their job.

Addendum:

August 2020, Dr. Kukarich was sanctioned by the Washington Board of Medicine. In my opinion, this is just a paper trail for other action.  

Also, it is interesting that Timothy King, the primary government expert witness against doctors for money, was the expert against Dr. Kuharich.  Timothy King is an embarrassment to the medical profession and is guilty of perjury in cases he testifies to. He is the one who needs to be behind bars.

To end these attacks, restore pain management, and provide compensation to all the families that have been destroyed by government overreach, we must get the Controlled Substance Act repealed.  Join Doctorsofcourage to get that done. Learn what we teach and spread the word.  NO DRUG CAUSES ADDICTION!! Let’s end the War on Drugs, Doctors and Pain Patients, end the black market, solve the southern border crisis, and restore proper pain management.  It CAN be done!

To fight these attacks effectively, join Doctors of Courage at https://www.doctorsofcourage.org/membership-levels/