MARYSVILLE — The state Department of Health has permanently revoked the medical license of Dr. Ann C. Kammeyer — one of only 18 physicians whose license has been revoked in Washington since 2008.
The action was taken by the state’s Medical Commission, which licenses medical professionals and reviews complaints against them.
The commission found that Kammeyer, of Marysville, had committed unprofessional conduct by improperly prescribing opioid medications to multiple patients.
A commission document outlining its findings said Kammeyer had been prescribing pain medications to patients with insufficient and often missing diagnoses, treatment plans, charting, monitoring, pain management referrals and insufficient safeguards to minimize the risk of drug diversion and abuse. This created “an unreasonable and imminent risk of harm and/or death to patients,” the document says.
An autopsy report of a patient’s accidental death in 2015 was caused by acute mixed drug intoxication of three pain medications. This included a long-acting opioid pain medication, according to the state document. All of these medications were prescribed by Kammeyer in excessive amounts, it says.
The patient had been treated by Kammeyer by 14 years for chronic pain, fibromyalgia and mental illness. The state said that the high doses of multiple pain medications “was excessive and far below the standard of care.”
The state suspended Kammeyer’s license in September. Her Marysville practice is closed.
Kammeyer waived her right to a hearing on the case and was not represented by an attorney.
She did send a letter to the state agency in October. In it, Kammeyer, a family practice physician, said that about half of her patients came to her for relief of pain symptoms. Many of these patients had to continue working, often at jobs that aggravated their pain, the letter says.
In the case of the patient’s death, Kammeyer said that the patient was accustomed to taking opioid medications after years of dealing with severe pain. “Unless she took extra she would not have died from it,” the letter says.
Kammeyer said that if she was younger and stronger she would have challenged the state’s action. “It appears … that you target solo doctors, women and foreign born,” her letter says. “As I am two of those things, I am not surprised to be targeted.”
She alleged that the government knew her staff embezzled from her and continued to allow it to occur. She also said she was told by patients that employees were selling drugs and prescriptions out the back door of her office and questioned what was being done about those actions.
“Let it suffice to know that you have continued to make it harder and harder for legitimate sufferers to get help,” the letter adds. “I hope you find out just how miserable that is.”
The commission said some of reasons it felt it necessary to revoke her license was the gravity of her unprofessional conduct, which involved multiple patients, the intentional nature of it, that she had inadequate education, training and experience in pain management and that she prescribed pain medications to a fictitious patient.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
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