Notice2023-05805
Karl Kauffman, M.D.; Decision and Order
Primary source
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Published
March 22, 2023
Issuing agencies
Justice DepartmentDrug Enforcement Administration
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 55 (Wednesday, March 22, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17268-17269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05805]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Drug Enforcement Administration
[Docket No. 23-12]
Karl Kauffman, M.D.; Decision and Order
On November 18, 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA or
Government) issued an Order to Show Cause (OSC) to Karl Kauffman, M.D.
(Respondent). OSC, at 1, 3. The OSC proposed the revocation of
[[Page 17269]]
Respondent's registration \1\ because Respondent is ``without authority
to handle controlled substance[s] in Texas, the state in which [he is]
registered with DEA.'' OSC, at 2 (citing 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3)).
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\1\ Certificate of Registration No. FK0627642 at the registered
address of 2675 41st Street SE, Paris, Texas 75462. Id. at 1.
According to Agency records, Respondent's Certificate of
Registration No. FK0627642 expired on December 31, 2022. The fact
that a registrant allows his registration to expire during the
pendency of an OSC does not impact the Agency's jurisdiction or
prerogative under the Controlled Substances Act (hereinafter, CSA)
to adjudicate the OSC to finality. Jeffrey D. Olsen, M.D., 84 FR
68474, 68476 through 68479 (2019).
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Respondent timely requested a hearing; thereafter, the Government
filed and the Chief Administrative Law Judge (hereinafter, CALJ)
granted a Motion for Summary Disposition recommending the revocation of
Respondent's registration. Order Granting the Government's Motion for
Summary Disposition and Recommended Rulings, Findings of Fact,
Conclusions of Law, and Decision of the Administrative Law Judge
(hereinafter, RD), at 5-6. Respondent did not oppose the Government's
Motion or file exceptions to the RD. Id. at 2. Having reviewed the
entire record, the Agency adopts and hereby incorporates by reference
the entirety of the CALJ's rulings, findings of fact, conclusions of
law, and recommended sanction and summarizes and expands upon portions
thereof herein.
Findings of Fact
On March 30, 2022, the Texas Medical Board issued an Order of
Temporary Suspension that suspended Respondent's Texas medical license.
RD, at 4; see also Government's Notice of Filing of Evidence and Motion
for Summary Disposition, Exhibit (GX) A, at 1-2. According to Texas
online records, of which the Agency takes official notice, Respondent's
license is still suspended.\2\ Texas Medical Board License
Verification, <a href="https://profile.tmb.state.tx.us">https://profile.tmb.state.tx.us</a> (last visited date of
signature of this Order). Accordingly, the Agency finds that Respondent
is not currently licensed to engage in the practice of medicine in
Texas, the state in which he is registered with the DEA.
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\2\ Under the Administrative Procedure Act, an agency ``may take
official notice of facts at any stage in a proceeding--even in the
final decision.'' United States Department of Justice, Attorney
General's Manual on the Administrative Procedure Act 80 (1947) (Wm.
W. Gaunt & Sons, Inc., Reprint 1979). Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 556(e),
``[w]hen an agency decision rests on official notice of a material
fact not appearing in the evidence in the record, a party is
entitled, on timely request, to an opportunity to show the
contrary.'' Accordingly, Respondent may dispute the Agency's finding
by filing a properly supported motion for reconsideration of
findings of fact within fifteen calendar days of the date of this
Order. Any such motion and response shall be filed and served by
email to the other party and to Office of the Administrator, Drug
Enforcement Administration at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b0d4d5d19ed1d4d4df9ed1c4c4dfc2ded5c9c3f0d4d5d19ed7dfc6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d5b1b0b4fbb4b1b1bafbb4a1a1baa7bbb0aca695b1b0b4fbb2baa3">[email protected]</span></a>.
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Discussion
Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 824(a)(3), the Attorney General is authorized
to suspend or revoke a registration issued under section 823 of the CSA
``upon a finding that the registrant . . . has had his State license or
registration suspended . . . [or] revoked . . . by competent State
authority and is no longer authorized by State law to engage in the . .
. dispensing of controlled substances.'' With respect to a
practitioner, the DEA has also long held that the possession of
authority to dispense controlled substances under the laws of the state
in which a practitioner engages in professional practice is a
fundamental condition for obtaining and maintaining a practitioner's
registration. See, e.g., James L. Hooper, M.D., 76 FR 71371 (2011),
pet. for rev. denied, 481 F. App'x 826 (4th Cir. 2012); Frederick Marsh
Blanton, M.D., 43 FR 27616, 27617 (1978).\3\
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\3\ This rule derives from the text of two provisions of the
CSA. First, Congress defined the term ``practitioner'' to mean ``a
physician . . . or other person licensed, registered, or otherwise
permitted, by . . . the jurisdiction in which he practices . . ., to
distribute, dispense, . . . [or] administer . . . a controlled
substance in the course of professional practice.'' 21 U.S.C.
802(21). Second, in setting the requirements for obtaining a
practitioner's registration, Congress directed that ``[t]he Attorney
General shall register practitioners . . . if the applicant is
authorized to dispense . . . controlled substances under the laws of
the State in which he practices.'' 21 U.S.C. 823(g)(1) (this
section, formerly Sec. 823(f), was redesignated as part of the
Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, Pub. L.
117-215, 136 Stat. 2257 (2022)). Because Congress has clearly
mandated that a practitioner possess state authority in order to be
deemed a practitioner under the CSA, the DEA has held repeatedly
that revocation of a practitioner's registration is the appropriate
sanction whenever he is no longer authorized to dispense controlled
substances under the laws of the state in which he practices. See,
e.g., James L. Hooper, 76 FR 71371 and 71372; Sheran Arden Yeates,
M.D., 71 FR 39130, 39131 (2006); Dominick A. Ricci, M.D., 58 FR
51104, 51105 (1993); Bobby Watts, M.D., 53 FR 11919, 11920 (1988);
Frederick Marsh Blanton, 43 FR 27617.
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According to Texas statute, ``[d]ispense'' means ``the delivery of
a controlled substance in the course of professional practice or
research, by a practitioner or person acting under the lawful order of
a practitioner, to an ultimate user or research subject. The term
includes the prescribing, administering, packaging, labeling, or
compounding necessary to prepare the substance for delivery.'' Tex.
Health & Safety Code Ann. Sec. 481.002(12) (2022). Further, a
``practitioner'' means ``a physician . . . or other person licensed,
registered, or otherwise permitted to distribute, dispense, analyze,
conduct research with respect to, or administer a controlled substance
in the course of professional practice or research in this state.'' Id.
at Sec. 481.002(39)(A).
Here, the undisputed evidence in the record is that Respondent
currently lacks authority to practice medicine in Texas. RD, at 4-5. As
discussed above, a person must be a licensed practitioner to dispense a
controlled substance in Texas. Id. at 5. Thus, because Respondent lacks
authority to practice medicine in Texas and, therefore, is not
authorized to handle controlled substances in Texas, Respondent is not
eligible to maintain a DEA registration. Id. Accordingly, the Agency
will order that Respondent's DEA registration be revoked.
Order
Pursuant to 28 CFR 0.100(b) and the authority vested in me by 21
U.S.C. 824(a), I hereby revoke DEA Certificate of Registration No.
FK0627642 issued to Karl Kauffman, M.D. Further, pursuant to 28 CFR
0.100(b) and the authority vested in me by 21 U.S.C. 823(g)(1), I
hereby deny any pending applications of Karl Kauffman, M.D., to renew
or modify this registration, as well as any other pending application
of Karl Kauffman, M.D., for additional registration in Texas. This
Order is effective April 21, 2023.
Signing Authority
This document of the Drug Enforcement Administration was signed on
March 15, 2023, by Administrator Anne Milgram. That document with the
original signature and date is maintained by DEA. For administrative
purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of the Office of the
Federal Register, the undersigned DEA Federal Register Liaison Officer
has been authorized to sign and submit the document in electronic
format for publication, as an official document of DEA. This
administrative process in no way alters the legal effect of this
document upon publication in the Federal Register.
Heather Achbach,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, Drug Enforcement Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-05805 Filed 3-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-09-P
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