The Health Department suspended a Rhode Island physician's license to practice medicine after a review of six patients' deaths showed that he had inappropriately prescribed them narcotics.
Fathalla Mashali, an anesthesiologist whose practice includes pain management, was barred from practicing until further notice, according to an order signed Thursday by state Health Department Director Michael D. Fine.
Concerns about Mashali, who has an office at 6 Blackstone Valley Place, Lincoln, were raised after the Office of the State Medical Examiners observed a pattern of fatal overdoses of prescription pain medication in Mashali's patients and reported their findings to the state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.
The suspension order says that while the board did not necessarily find Mashali responsible for the deaths of the six patients, a review of their medical records showed that he had prescribed opioids (painkillers) to patients with a history of drug abuse and failed to properly monitor them.
The report describes one case in which Mashali continued to prescribe a month's worth of opioids to a female patient even after he had evidence that suggested she was not taking them as prescribed. In another case, he gave a male patient who had tested positive for amphetamine and cocaine a month's worth of narcotics.
Mashali dispensed "vast amounts of opioids and Benzodiazepines to a patient with multiple urine toxicology screens suggesting that he was not taking the medication as prescribed..." the report states.
In a third case, he gave a female patient who repeatedly tested positive for Ecstasy, an illegal drug, was given a month's supply of opioids. A reviewer who analyzed Mashali's medical records stated in the report that his prescribing habits in the case as as "lavish" and his physical exam as "cursory."
The Health Department has advised patients who need copies of their medical records to contact Mashali's office. Patients who need to find another prescriber or receive pain care assistance are advised to contact their primary care provider or use the "Fine a doctor" tool on the HEALTH web page.