Medical Board pulls former CAFB physician’s license

The Associated Press

SANTA FE — A Santa Fe physician who once practiced at Cannon Air Force Base has hadhis license to practice medicine in New Mexico revoked by the state Medical Board, effective April 7.

The board concluded Thursday that George Schwartz, 64, violated the Medical Practice Act multiple times.

“If he continues to practice medicine or write scripts, then it becomes a criminal matter,” said Jenny Felmley, board spokeswoman.

Schwartz has until April 30 to appeal to state district court.

“I will appeal it if there is an issue that could be appealed,” he said.

Schwartz was accused of prescribing large amounts of narcotics for five patients with the same surname and not documenting why the painkillers were necessary.

He also was accused of failing to maintain adequate records for at least 55 patients and failing to account for more than 2,700 doses of narcotics he prescribed during a two-year span.

Schwartz has said he properly prescribed drugs, but some of the prescriptions were forged by other people. He also has said his medical records were compromised by a robbery and a computer crash.

Schwartz has been running a private practice out of his home, treating opiate addictions and Morgellons disease — a skin condition that is not recognized by mainstream medicine.

Schwartz has researched food additives and wrote, “In Bad Taste: The MSG Symptom Complex.”

He graduated from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn in 1967.

Schwartz was an emergency physician at Presbyterian and St. Joseph hospitals in Albuquerque in 1970 and 1971.

From 1978 to 1983, he directed the division of emergency medicine at the University of New Mexico, where he established a new residency program in emergency medicine and helped train paramedics.

From 1983 to the 1990s, Schwartz practiced emergency medicine at Los Alamos Medical Center, Cannon Air Force Base Hospital, Gallup Indian Medical Center, Rehobeth Christian Medical Center in Gallup, Shiprock Regional Medical Center, Sierra Medical Center in Truth or Consequences and Cibola Regional Medical Center in Grants.

Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican; Albuquerque Journal