The New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners has revoked the license of a Passaic County doctor whose indiscriminate prescribing of highly addictive pain killers to his patients presented a “clear and imminent danger to the public.”
The Board found that Dr. Mohamed Kawam JabakjI (known as “Dr. Kawam”), who maintained a medical practice in Prospect Park, prescribed pain killers, including Oxycodone, Percocet and Codeine, to at least six patients without proper medical justification.
Under a Consent Order with the Board, Kawam cannot apply for the reinstatement of his medical license for at least three years. He must also pay the State $167,702, which includes a $110,000 civil penalty and a $57,702 reimbursement of the State’s investigative and legal costs.
Before applying for reinstatement, Kawam would, among other things, be required to complete Board approved record keeping training, and appear before a committee of the Board to demonstrate his fitness to resume practice.
In addition, Kawam’s New Jersey authority to prescribe controlled dangerous substances (CDS) is permanently revoked. As a result, even if the Board restores Kawam’s medical license in the future, he will still be barred from prescribing medications classified as CDS, absent an additional order from the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs.
Dr. Kawam’s medical license has been temporarily suspended since April 2015. In temporarily suspending his license, the Board found that Dr. Kawam’s monitoring and screening of patients for possible misuse or diversion of prescribed drugs and/or for use of illegal drugs was virtually non-existent, yet he repeatedly continued to indiscriminately prescribe narcotics. The Board further found that Dr. Kawam did not routinely screen his patients even when they exhibited diversionary behavior, such as requests for early refills and inexplicable lapses of time between office visits.
In its filed complaint, the State alleged Kawam’s treatment of the six cited patients demonstrated “gross deviation from the standard of care given the lack of examinations, time lapses between visits, failure to address clear drug seeking and doctor shopping behavior and absence of any legitimate medical record keeping.” The State further alleged that Kawam’s actions demonstrated “gross negligence” which endangered these patients.
Consumers who believe they have been cheated or scammed by a business, or suspect any other form of consumer abuse, can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer Affairs by visiting its website or by calling 1-800-242-5846 (toll free within New Jersey) or 973-504- 6200.