An Ocala doctor was fined $10,000, placed on probation for six months, and must reimburse the Florida Department of Health Board of Medicine $3,500 for allegedly committing medical malpractice by issuing prescriptions to a patient for over two years and eventually diagnosing that same individual with “opioid abuse.”
A final order was issued by the Board of Medicine on Tuesday, May 20, imposing a fine and probation on Dr. Andrew Demetrios Pogiatzis. Despite the final order’s conditions, it is not considered an admission of guilt.
The order comes in response to an administrative complaint that accused Pogiatzis of incorrectly diagnosing a 68-year-old woman with with “hypertension and bronchitis.” According to the complaint, the woman allegedly had a “history of mental disorders and chronic, musculoskeletal pain disorder of the back and hips” before she visited Pogiatzis.
According to the state’s complaint, in December 2018, the patient visited Pogiatzis. During his visit, he diagnosed the woman with “hypertension and bronchitis,” despite the patient having “no history, medication use, review of systems, or exam findings consistent with hypertension or bronchitis.”
The complaint goes on to cite visits in January 2019, February 2019, and July 2019 in which the doctor confirmed the patient’s incorrect diagnosis (hypertension/bronchitis).
In August 2019, Pogiatzis allegedly prescribed “60 doses of Tramadol 50mg twice daily for pain,” documenting once again that the woman had “hypertension and bronchitis.”
In November 2019, an orthopedic surgeon working on the patient noted that the woman had obtained a prescription refill with no quantity specified. In December 2019, Pogiatzis also noted a “prescription refill with no quantity specified.”
In January 2020, Pogiatzis performed a preoperative evaluation on the patient in anticipation of her “total right hip arthroplasty.”
At the time, Pogiatzis noted a “30-day prescription refill” and “anxiolytic and opioid dependence” by the patient.
In February 2020, after her hip surgery, the patient visited Pogiatzis and he allegedly “noted the Tramadol dose was 50 mg every four hours as needed for pain.”
In April 2020, the patient had a telephone call with another provider who authorized a 7-day prescription refill for pain.
In September 2020, the patient had another telephone conversation with Pogiatzis and told him that she no longer wanted Tramadol for her pain.
A few weeks after that, in November 2020, the victim visited Pogiatzis, who documented “hypertension and bronchitis” and a “medication list that included both Tramadol and Acetaminophen Codeine.”
In January 2021, Pogiatzis diagnosed the woman with “opioid abuse in remission.” In his report, he noted that the patient “was stable off medications despite Tramadol still being listed” on her medication list.
The complaint accuses Pogiatzis of failing to keep adequate medical records and of providing care “below the minimum standard” in his treatment of the patient. Furthermore, it accuses Pogiatzis of a failure to “perform a physical exam or review history, medication use, systems, or exam findings, that justify the bronchitis and/or hypertension diagnoses.”
As a condition of his probation, Pogiatzis is required to notify “in writing, any physician assistant and/or anesthesiologist assistant whom [Pogiatzis] supervises, of his probationary status.”
In addition to the fine and probation, Pogiatzis must cover the department’s prosecution costs of approximately $3,591.61. The doctor must also complete five hours of continuing education in risk management, five hours in drug prescribing, and three hours in medical recordkeeping. All three of those stipulations must be completed by May 20, 2026.
According to records maintained by the Florida Department of Health, Pogiatzis lists his professional address as 8599 SW Highway 200, Lara Medical & Associates.