Owner of region's largest painkiller clinics banned from practicing medicine while N.C. Medical Boar

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http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2013/09/26/1285615?sac=fo.military

Owner of region's largest painkiller clinics banned from practicing medicine while N.C. Medical Board investigates
By John Ramsey
Published: 07:52 PM, Thu Sep 26, 2013

The founder of the region's largest pain management company can no longer practice medicine in North Carolina while the state Medical Board investigates his six clinics.

The board made public Thursday an agreement signed by Dr. Aaron Gootman that bars him from "any act that requires a license to practice medicine" until its investigation is complete. Both parties agree that the move "is in the public interest," according to the document.

In July, The Fayetteville Observer reported on several allegations that Gootman was irresponsibly prescribing painkillers to patients in Fayetteville and neighboring counties at his Cape Fear Pain and Laser clinics.

One patient, Ann Butler, overdosed on painkillers prescribed at Gootman's clinic in Sanford. Butler was given a prescription for Oxycontin - one of the most powerful painkillers on the market - despite having been released from jail six days earlier for prescription fraud. Moore County deputies accused Butler of visiting seven doctors' offices, including Gootman's, in an attempt to obtain opiate painkillers, such as Percocet and Vicodin.