Sonoma doctor fired, accused of prescribing narcotics excessively

Sonoma Valley Hospital has fired a longtime family physician accused of overprescribing dangerous drugs, including addictive painkillers blamed for the death of a patient in 2013.

Dr. John Schafer, who has practiced medicine in Sonoma for nearly 60 years, said he was fired Jan. 29 for violating the hospital's standards for prescribing narcotics.

'The reasons for their action was my not strictly adhering to their guideline for narcotic prescribing,' Schafer wrote in a letter to the editor published in the Sonoma Index- Tribune.

Schafer said the guideline is a clause in a 19-page agreement between him and the hospital that limits the amount of opioids a doctor can prescribe at any time. It is also a strict state guideline for prescribing opioids.

Schafer disagrees with the guideline's strict prescription limits.

'They want you to just cut them (patients) off,' Schafer said, describing the practice as 'inhumane' and 'cruel.'

'I want to wean them off,' he said, referring to patients who are addicted to pain medications such as Norco and Vicodin. Vicodin and Norco are both combinations of hydrocodone and acetaminophen (Tylenol), differing only in the amount of Tylenol. Oxycodone can be prescribed by itself or combined with Tylenol as Percocet.

In a Feb. 17 statement, the hospital said it could not comment on specific personnel matters like the dismissal of Schafer.

'Decisions involving all physician contracts with the hospital are made only after careful consideration and review of a number of factors including patient safety, the needs of the community, and review of any applicable regulatory guidelines,' the hospital statement said.

Termination of physician contracts are done with 'considerable effort to understand the situation and take any available corrective actions in advance of termination,' the statement said.

Schafer said he was escorted out of his Perkins Street clinic, where he shared a practice with two other physicians, and was not allowed to access any files or given a chance to talk to his patients before he left the building. The hospital notified patients about Schafer's 'departure' in a letter sent to their homes.

Known in the community as the doctor who rides the scooter, Schafer, 86, earned his license in 1960 and has been practicing medicine in Sonoma since 1962.

In May 2019, state regulators accused Schafer of unprofessional conduct and initiated disciplinary proceedings in a complaint alleging that an unnamed patient under his care died in 2013 after overdosing on hydrocodone.

The complaint, filed by the executive director of the Medical Board of California, alleged Schafer excessively prescribed drugs to the patient without an adequate diagnosis or medical reason. The complaint also accused the doctor of failing to maintain adequate records.

The patient filled Norco prescriptions written by Schafer nine times in a three-month period, obtaining 2,160 tablets — equivalent to an average of 23 tablets a day — while also filling a single prescription of methadone, according to the complaint. Methadone is used to help addicted patients get off opioids and other drugs. Experts said the two should never be taken together.

The patient died Feb. 16, 2013, as a result of 'hydrocodone intoxication,' according to the complaint. Schafer said he was told the patient committed suicide, which the medical board could not confirm.

He said the man also refilled the prescriptions without Schafer's knowledge.

The medical board has not acted on the allegations laid out in the complaint, a spokesperson for the board said.

Several of Schafer's patients sent letters of support to the Index-Tribune after his dismissal, saying that Schafer is a kind, compassionate man, and expressed outrage at the manner in which he was fired.

Longtime patient Gayle Woebcke blasted hospital management for its 'horrible' treatment of Schafer.

'Sonoma Valley Hospital expects us, the community, to support them when they do not support us, the community, by firing one of the best doctors Sonoma Valley Hospital has ever had,' Woebcke wrote, adding 'Dr. Schafer, your community loves you.'

Schafer told the Index- Tribune he is not retiring and considered suing the hospital for wrongful termination and illegal patient abandonment, but decided against a lawsuit after speaking with attorneys.

He wants to continue to work, and is hoping to find a position with another local clinic.

Schafer is the second longtime doctor in Sonoma accused of improperly prescribing drugs to his patients.

Last May, Dr. Clinton Lane surrendered his medical license after the Medical Board of California charged him with four counts of unprofessional conduct. Lane did not admit to the charges, although he said there was a factual basis for the charges.

Lane, who practiced medicine in Sonoma for more than 40 years and served as medical director of Sonoma Valley Hospital, was accused by regulators of repeated negligence involving the prescription of opioids to four of his patients. He retired in 2018.