Blytheville Doctor Loses License

Last updated Saturday, April 14, 2007 10:29 PM CDT in News

    The Associated Press

    LITTLE ROCK -- A Blytheville doctor prescribed excessive amounts of drugs to five people, including one who died, and will no longer be allowed to practice medicine in Arkansas, the Arkansas Medical Board decided.

    The board on Friday revoked the license of Dr. Judith Butler, 60, also finding she prescribed controlled substances for two patients while she was hospitalized in Memphis, Tenn., and failed to pay a $5,808 fine the board required of her after a previous investigation.

    In addition, the board found Butler failed to keep adequate records for seven patients receiving pain medicine, did not report a 2003 misdemeanor alcohol-related conviction in Nebraska, and failed to provide her patient records for monitoring by the board.

    The board had hired Dr. J. Carlos Roman, a pain specialist, to review Butler's patient records. Roman wrote in a report that some of Butler's patients abused drugs and alcohol but Butler continued to give them narcotics.

    A 37-year-old patient identified as M.I. suffered from ankle pain, back pain, depression and had a history of alcohol abuse, according to Roman. Butler prescribed 100 Xanax tablets, 120 methadone tablets, 180 Lorcet tablets, and 50 oxycodone tables, Roman said. Five days after filling the prescriptions, the patient died from "multiple drug intoxication," Roman said.

    Butler maintains the patient did not die from her prescriptions. She told board members she was the target of an overzealous Arkansas State Police trooper.

    "I'm a crippled old grandma, who is right now taking care of 200 or 300 stressed, depressed poor folks because they can't find anybody else to take care of them," said Butler, who has arthritis and uses a wheelchair.

    She said she plans to appeal the board's decision.

    Reader Comments (9 comment(s))


    The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsibility of their authors. The Morning News does not review comments before their publication, nor do we guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by our comment policy. If you see a comment that violates our policy, please notify the web editor.

    James wrote on Apr 16, 2007 12:55 AM:

    " Jessica I hope that one day you or one of your family members don't find yoorselves in chronic pain due to an accident or disease and need a caring physcian like Dr. Butler to help keep comfortable and functioning. Due to witch hunts like this one aginst DR Butler there are fewer ans fewer physcians willing to tp treat patient with chronic pain, depression and anxiety disorders beccause they are afraid of overzealous Medical Board like the one here in Arkansas thats members are appointed for life and most of them havent even laid eyes on a patient in 10 - 15 years. I hope and pray that day never comes for you Jessica, and if it should I hope you remeber the comments you made today and hope that you still think its funny. "

    Problem wrote on Apr 16, 2007 4:15 AM:

    " with the article here is that there is missing time information on the medication given, such as were those monthly scripts, or were they 90 day scripts, 6 month scripts ect....... Most cases were a patient dies of overdose is because of the improper use of the drugs prescribed. It does not matter if the drugs are of the amphetamine family or not, any drug, improperly used by a patient can lead to serious illness or injury, even death........Now if this doctor did know that her patients were abusing these scripts, or mixing them with alcohol then she should have stopped prescribing them, or found safer alternatives, however many abusers are pretty inventive.............I suffer from chronic pain, have for most of my life but since a car wreck in 95 it has been more intense. I have been to one doctor after another and get refused any kind of meds that may help relieve some of that pain so I have been forced to function with the pain for most of my life because of patients like this that abuse their meds. In fact I avoid taking any kind of medication unless I absolutely need it and am relegated to OTC meds which hardly take the edge off some days. "

    Problem wrote on Apr 16, 2007 4:28 AM:

    " Cont'd................................ Most doctors I have seen in the NWA area have been pretty cold hearted when is comes to the pain I am in on a constant basis.All they seem to be worried about is how fast they can get me out the door and collect their fee..........I have not been able to get to any specialists because I cant afford them at present and due to specific injuries I am knocked out of over 60% of current job market..........The only benefit in my case is that I have developed a high pain threshold, in fact it is almost high enough that I could get stitches done without a local and it would not bother me to much, the downside is that many days I am relegated to my bed when the pain gets intense and between that and the fatigue, it gets irritating. I only wish I could find a compassionate doctor that understands the world of pain that I am caught up in......So before you judge this doctor to harshly, I would search for more information on the case and not rely solely upon what is written in the newspaper as they rarely ever get all the info, or even omit some info to due to space. "

    Problem wrote on Apr 16, 2007 4:35 AM:

    " Cont'd......................So I thought you might want to hear a little from the side of a person that deals with chronic pain on a daily basis, and hopefully learn to understand that more compassionate doctors are sorely needed in the area...........Thing is that in most cases with the abuse of prescription medication, its not the doctors that are the issue, its the patients that are purposefully abusing the meds...........There are combinations of meds that should not be given due to interaction and most doctors understand and will not prescribe such combinations........Now what I find interesting here is that patients that abuse scripted meds are rarely brought up on charges and when they die due to their own stupidity its ALWAYS the doctors who are brought up at fault. And that, my friends is the type of society we live in today, where the blame is placed upon anyone or anything else other than the real person at fault, in this case the patient(s) that abused the scripted meds. "

    CC wrote on Apr 16, 2007 9:34 AM:

    " I hear you problem. We hear all about the abusers but what about the people who need adequate pain relief to help them function, work full time and take care of their families and self? They can't get the meds they need because of abusers. I know its frustrating for Dr's too but don't they take an oathe so that their patience don't have to suffer? Frustrating. "

    Julie wrote on Apr 16, 2007 1:42 PM:

    " The article about Dr. Butler doesn't touch on the hundreds of lives that she has saved because other doctors wouldn't see them, or they didn't care enough to find the real diagnosis! I personally know Dr. Butler and she is the ONLY caring, loving, physician that I can find these days. She doesn't care if the patient is rich or poor, she doesn't care if she has to run every test in the book, she will find the right diagnosis and help you with the healing! Why haven't the patients that she has helped, and can't live without her been brought up? Everyone knows that there is medical malpratice and it is usually very well covered up, why not now? She was personally attacked that's why!! "

    To Problem wrote on Apr 16, 2007 2:12 PM:

    " I understand where you are coming from. I live with chronic neck and back pain, what I have found is Dr. Hiatt (Chiropractor) in Bella Vista that does adjustments and Dr. Haines (Chiropractor) in Bentonville for acupuncture. They help tremendously. I am not against medication but sometimes you need an alternative. I hope that this helps you some. "

    Problem wrote on Apr 16, 2007 7:24 PM:

    " I had Chiropractics done for back pain shortly after the wreck, pressure point therapy, heat therapy, ect.... while it provided short term relief I almost ended up with a myocardial infraction when I laid eyes on the bill, lol, my bill for one month was $750. lol. Most of my pain is from nerve and joint damage that I know of at this point.......... I did not know Ms. Butler since I dont live in that area but she does sound like someone who does care according to some that have written about her that do know her..........Although I do not know the specifics regarding this case, what bothers me is that the types and amounts of meds were listed in this article and not the time frame in which they were prescribed...........Another thing that bothers me is that in the majority of cases when a person dies due to overdose its not anyones fault but the person that overused the medications prescribed.......Something just doesnt add up here and I am betting this was an overzealous act on the part of the AMB. "

    James wrote on Apr 17, 2007 12:22 AM:

    " Problem, you are correct about this patient that if it was an overdose that caused his death it would have been his fault for the misuse of his medications. The thing that bothers me about this case is that no one the investigators nor the Medical Board or their paid Expert ( that will say whatever the person paying them wants them to say) ever brought up the fact that the autopsy report list cause of death as undetermined. That doesn't sound like a drug overdose to me. Even the media, I don't know who the original reporter for the AP is but he/she didn’t even bother to get both sides of the story. This case kind of reminds me of another wrongful prosecution, can you say DUKE LACROSSE . If you would like more information about Pain Management or lack thereof check out this site: http://www.cpmission.com/main/arkansas.html "


    *Member ID:
    *Password:
      Forgot Your Password?
     

    Not already registered?
    Register Now

    E-Edition


    Click here to get it all!

    Sponsors

















    Media Partners

    Fayetteville Free Weekly

    Stephens Media

    Arkansas News Bureau

    La Prensa

    Hawgs Illustrated

    Washington County Newspaper

    McDonald County Press

    KUAF

    Channels 40/29