Registrant Actions - 2011
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 209 (Friday, October 28, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66995-66996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-28010]
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Drug Enforcement Administration
David T. Koon, M.D.; Revocation of Registration
On July 24, 2009, the Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of
Diversion Control, Drug Enforcement Administration, issued an Order to
Show Cause to David T. Koon (hereinafter, Registrant), of Summerton,
South Carolina. The Show Cause Order proposed the revocation of
Respondent's DEA Certificate of Registration, BK4092350, as a
practitioner, and the denial of any applications to renew or modify the
registration, on the ground that he does not "have authority to
practice medicine or handle controlled substance in the [S]tate of
South Carolina, the [S]tate in which [he is] registered with DEA"
because "of actions by the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners
and the South Carolina Bureau of Drug Control." Id. at 1 (citing 21
U.S.C. 824(a)(3)).
On August 1, 2009, the Show Cause Order, which also advised
Registrant of his right to request a hearing on the allegations or to
file a written statement in lieu of a hearing, the procedures for doing
either, and the consequence for failing to do so, was served by
certified mail sent to him at his home address as established by the
signed return-receipt card. Id. at 2. Since that time, neither
Respondent, nor anyone purporting to represent him, has requested a
hearing or submitted a statement. Because more than thirty days have
passed since service of the Show Cause Order, I conclude that
Respondent has waived his right to either request a hearing or to
submit a written statement. 21 CFR 1301.43. I therefore issue this
Decision and Final Order without a hearing based on relevant material
contained in the record submitted by the Government and make the
following findings.
Findings
Respondent is the holder of DEA Certificate of Registration,
BK4092350. Respondent's registration was last renewed on January 2,
2009, and does not expire until December 31, 2011.
On March 31, 2009, the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners
ordered that Respondent's medical license be "temporarily suspended,
effective immediately, until further Order of the Board." Order of
Temporary Suspension, In re David Thomas Koon, OIE 2009-46,
2008-217 (S.C. Bd. Med. Exam'rs, Mar. 31, 2009). Moreover, according to
the Board's Web site, Registrant's medical license expired on September
30, 2009; the Web site also indicates Registrant's "Credential
Status" as "Suspended." In addition, according to the South Carolina
Department of Health and Environmental Control, Bureau of Drug Control,
Registrant's South Carolina Controlled Substances Registration expired
on May 12, 2009.
Discussion
DEA does not have statutory authority to grant or maintain a DEA
registration if the applicant or registrant lacks authority to handle
controlled substances under the laws of the State in which he is
engaged in professional practice. See 21 U.S.C. 802(21) (defining the
term "practitioner" as a person "licensed, registered, or otherwise
permitted, by the United States or the jurisdiction in which he
practices * * * to distribute, dispense * * * [or] administer * * * a
controlled substance"); id. Sec. 823(f) ("The Attorney General
shall register practitioners * * * to dispense * * * controlled
substances * * * if the applicant is authorized to dispense * * *
controlled substances under the laws of the State in which he
practices."). As these provisions make plain, possessing authority
under state law to handle controlled substances is an essential
condition for holding a DEA registration.
Accordingly, DEA has held repeatedly that the CSA requires the
revocation of a registration issued to a practitioner whose state
license has been suspended or revoked. David W. Wang, 72 FR 54297,
54298 (2007); Sheran Arden Yeates, 71 FR 39130, 39131 (2006); Dominick
A. Ricci, 58 FR 51104, 51105 (1993); Bobby Watts, 53 FR 11919, 11920
(1988). See also 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3) (authorizing the revocation of a
registration "upon a finding that the registrant * * * has had his
State license or registration suspended [or] revoked * * * and is no
longer authorized by State law to engage in the * * * distribution [or]
dispensing of controlled substances").
Moreover, the Agency has interpreted the CSA to require the
revocation of a registration upon a practitioner's loss of state
authority "not only where a registrant's authority has been suspended
or revoked, but also where a practitioner * * * has lost his state
authority for reasons other than through formal disciplinary action of
a State board." John B. Freitas, 74 FR 17524, 17525 (2009). Thus, even
when a registrant ceases to possess authority to handle controlled
substance in the State in which he practices through the expiration of
a medical license or separate state controlled substances registration
(when required), the Agency has revoked the practitioner's
registration. James Stephen Ferguson, 75 FR 49994, 49995 (2010); Mark
L. Beck, 64 FR 40899, 40900 (1999); Charles H. Ryan, 58 FR 14430
(1993).
Because Registrant is no longer licensed to practice medicine and
to dispense controlled substances in South Carolina, the State in which
he is registered with DEA, under the CSA, he is no longer entitled to
hold his registration. Accordingly, his registration will be revoked
and any pending applications will be denied.
Order
Pursuant to the authority vested in me by 21 U.S.C. 823(f) &
824(a), as well as 28 CFR 0.100(b), I order that DEA Certificate of
Registration, BK4092350, issued to David T. Koon, M.D., be, and it
hereby is, revoked. I further order that any pending application of
David T. Koon, M.D., to renew or modify his registration, be, and it
hereby is, denied.
[[Page 66996]]
This Order is effective November 28, 2011.
Dated: October 17, 2011.
Michele M. Leonhart,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2011-28010 Filed 10-27-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-09-P
NOTICE: This is an unofficial version. An official version of this publication may be obtained
directly from the Government Printing Office (GPO).
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