DES MOINES – Recently, the Iowa Board of Medicine took the following actions:
Daniel J. Baldi, D.O., a 50 year-old Iowa-licensed anesthesiologist who practiced pain management in Des Moines, Iowa, had formal disciplinary charges filed against him on August 23, 2012.
The Board charged Dr. Baldi with violating the laws and rules governing the practice of medicine in Iowa when he failed to provide appropriate pain care to numerous patients in Des Moines, Iowa, between 2004 and the present.
The Board alleged that Dr. Baldi prescribed large quantities of potentially lethal medications to numerous patients; failed to perform and/or document appropriate physical examinations; failed to assess and/or document appropriate assessment of patients’ need for opioid therapy; failed to perform and/or document appropriate interventional pain management procedures; failed to establish and/or document appropriate treatment plans; failed to perform and/or document appropriate monitoring; failed to address and/or document appropriate efforts to address patients who demonstrated evidence of misuse or diversion; failed to appropriately supervise and/or document his supervision of mid-level providers who provided opioid therapy to patients; failed to appropriately refill an intrathecal infusion pain pump resulting in the patient receiving an excessive dose of medication; and failed to maintain appropriate medical records.
A hearing is scheduled on October 11-12, 2012.
Also, the Des Moines Register reported on September 6th that Baldi was charged last week with eight counts of involuntary manslaughter for allegedly prescribing large amounts of narcotic painkillers to patients who later died of overdoses.
One of the eight patients was identified in court papers as Paul Gray, an internationally known musician who helped found the band Slipknot. Gray was found dead of a drug overdose at an Urbandale hotel in May 2010.
The Register further reported that at Wednesday’s criminal court proceedings, Judge Odell McGhee entered a not-guilty plea on Baldi’s behalf.
After the 10-minute hearing, the doctor was handcuffed and led away by a Polk County sheriff’s deputy as Baldi’s wife, Deb, wiped away tears. Baldi was released later Wednesday after posting $16,000 bail.
