Department of Public Health (DPH) officials outlined their processes for responding to license suspensions at a September 15 Medical Examiners Board meeting. The meeting followed the suspension of a Hartford-based psychiatrist whom the department has charged with defrauding patients through fraudulent billing and providing them with controlled substances, among other charges.
Dr. Douglas Zelisko’s medical license was suspended during an August 18 Medical Examiners Board meeting. Zelisko faces a number of charges, including that he hired his romantic partner, Aleixander Puerta, as a life coach even though he did not have a license; that he prescribed controlled substances like ketamine to patients but had them shipped to his home for Puerta’s use; and that he met with patients at bars and restaurants and supplied them with drugs and alcohol.
DPH officials have faced scrutiny for the roughly ten month period between when they received complaints detailing Zelisko’s alleged behavior and when they moved to suspend his license.
During an August 18 meeting of the Medical Examiners Board, members expressed concern at the length of time it took for them to become aware of the complaint.
“[I]it’s extremely concerning to me that we haven’t had this matter brought to us earlier. Wherever this went into a black hole on its way to us, I would very much like someone to communicate with that area to say this is really worrisome, and we need to deal with an emergency on an emergent basis, not a year later.” Medical Examiners Board chair Kathryn Emmett said during that meeting.
“Obviously, there’s over a thousand documents, so it took a long time for the investigative unit to proceed,” DPH attorney Joelle Newton said during the board’s August meeting. “It was just referred to our unit less than a week ago, so our unit obviously took action.”
During the board’s September 15 meeting, DPH Public Health Services Manager Laura Morris outlined DPH’s quarterly disciplinary actions and the follow-up the agency does once a practitioner’s license is suspended. Morris said DPH does not do outreach to patients but that disciplinary actions are reported to a national practitioner databank used by every state and that every licensee in the state is a mandated reporter.
Morris was asked how the agency knows when a doctor is prescribing substances they do not have the authority to, and said that if DPH becomes aware, either from a licensee or the general public, they can file a cease and desist and possibly assess a fine.
Green also asked Morris why DPH doesn’t send out public notices when a licensee is suspended, and was told that because a licensee is suspended pending a full hearing where they have the chance to defend themselves, the department wants to provide due process.
The board also amended its statement of charges against Zelisko to clarify the number of patients Zelisko is accused of mishandling, rather than the number of times he is accused of violating the statute. DPH found that Zelisko had written approximately 1,260 prescriptions for controlled substances for approximately 152 patients and had failed to access prescription monitoring for approximately 132 of them.
Zelisko did not appear in his own defense at the meeting.
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