Doctor who accessed Stephen Paddock’s records wants to reinstate license
The doctor disciplined for accessing the Oct. 1 shooter’s prescription history took the first step Friday to seeing Nevada patients again.
The Nevada Board of Medical Examiners approved Dr. Ivan Goldsmith’s request to start the process of reinstating his license, but his attorney must first negotiate with board staff about conditions that will apply to the license. There is no timeline for when those conditions will be completed.
Goldsmith will still be on probation and required to complete continuing education courses and psychological evaluations.
Goldsmith was put on probation and agreed to make his license inactive in 2018 after the medical board found he accessed Stephen Paddock’s prescription history from a proprietary database, records show.
“This is a fair and satisfactory way for Dr. Goldsmith to start serving patients in Nevada again,” said Aaron Bart Fricke, senior deputy general counsel, at Friday’s board meeting.
The initial agreement allowed staff to lift restrictions on Goldsmith’s license, but board members on Friday said they want to review any changes.
Goldsmith’s counsel John Hunt agreed to that.
“We have no problem appearing before the board to lift all restrictions,” he said during the meeting.
The medical board started investigating Goldsmith after the Review-Journal published an article Oct. 3, 2017, showing Paddock was prescribed Valium.
The investigation found that Goldsmith accessed or directed his staff to access Paddock’s prescription records five times despite never treating the gunman, board records show.
The board charged Goldsmith with unprofessional conduct and a HIPPA privacy violation for accessing Paddock’s records, the complaint shows.
During the investigation into who accessed Paddock’s prescription records, investigators also found Goldsmith prescribed weight loss drug prescriptions to himself in 2014 and 2015, records show.
“Respondent wrote prescriptions and dispensed appetite suppressants to himself in a manner that violated the professional standards for prescription of appetite suppressants,” the board charges show.
In December 2018, Goldsmith settled the case, agreeing to 24 months probation, paying about $11,000 in fines and fees and taking prescribing classes.
At the time, his previous attorney E. Brent Bryson, said Goldsmith left Las Vegas for Florida, where he was licensed to practice medicine, to pursue work in finance with a relative. He voluntarily relinquished his license in Florida, the state’s health department physician database shows.
Paddock fatally shot 58 concert goers and injured hundreds from a suite at Mandalay Bay on Oct. 1, 2017 and took his own life.
Contact Arthur Kane at akane@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ArthurMKane on Twitter. Kane is a member of the Review-Journal’s investigative team, focusing on reporting that holds leaders and agencies accountable and exposes wrongdoing.