KAMSACK, Sask. -- A Saskatchewan doctor accused of inappropriately prescribing opioids to patients has agreed to give up his medical licence.
Murray Davies, who worked in Kamsack, Sask., near the Manitoba boundary, was charged last year with unprofessional conduct by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan.
The regulatory body says the charges stemmed from concerns about prescriptions of powerful medications including opioids and benzodiazepines.
Associate registrar and legal counsel Bryan Salte said the college began investigating Davies in April 2017 after receiving complaints from other health-care practitioners and concerns were flagged under the college's Prescription Review Program. The program monitors the prescribing of drugs which the college worries can be abused.
Allegations included concerns that Davies was prescribing powerful medications to patients who were undergoing treatment for opioid addiction from other doctors, Salte said.
"Despite the fact (Davies) had been advised by other physicians that they would prefer not to have him prescribe these medications to patients, he continued to do so."
Salte said the college had evidence Davies prescribed drugs to patients without doing proper assessments.
It was also alleged he kept prescribing medications to patients in spite of results from urine drug tests showing they weren't taking the drugs.
Salte said Davies didn't admit to the charges and the college agreed not to prosecute them in exchange for relinquishing his medical licence and promising to never practice medicine again.
Salte said Davies had been practising medicine up until he signed the agreement last month.
Davies had been in trouble before. In 2014, he lost his ability to prescribe methadone.
