Derby pain clinic medical director fined $7,500 over drug prescriptions

By Kate Farrish, Conn. Health I-Team Writer

The medical director of a pain clinic in Derby was reprimanded and fined $7,500 Tuesday by the state Medical Examining Board for writing prescriptions for patients based on assessments of their appearance or behavior conducted by unlicensed medical assistants.

Dr. Mark Thimineur, medical director of the privately run Comprehensive Pain & Headache Treatment Centers LLC, housed at Griffin Hospital, signed a consent order June 1 agreeing to the punishment. In the order, he did not contest the findings by the board and the state Department of Public Health.

The consent order states that from 2011 to the present, Thimineur failed to meet the standard of care when treating one or more patients for chronic pain. It said he wrote prescriptions for patients based on assessments by unlicensed medical assistants of the patients’ physical appearance, behavior, pain levels or lab test results.

David Tilles, a DPH staff attorney, told the board that the health department is satisfied that Thimineur has made changes at the clinic and halted such use of the medical assistants.

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