Psychiatrist Peter C. Gleason suspended in California following similar action in Pennsylvania

November 12, 2010

On November 4, 2010, the Medical Board of California issued a Notice of Out of State Suspension Order on psychiatrist Peter C. Gleason.  

According to the Order, the Board “determined, upon review of certified documents from the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine, that [Gleason’s] Pennsylvania license to practice medicine was suspended on October 8, 2010.  Based on this suspension, your California license has been suspended effective immediately.”  

California had reprimanded Gleason in March 2010, due to discipline, restriction, or limitation imposed by another state; specifically, the July 2008 was reprimanded by the Maryland State Board of Physicians, which found that he “regularly and over a long period of time, prescribed medications for a patient without noting either their side-effects or the patient’s responses to the medications.  

Gleason kept scant notes of his treatment of the patient, and his records filed to reflect the dosage, strength or frequent of the powerful medications he prescribed.  The Maryland Board concluded that [Gleason] “has lost touch with the importance of maintaining adequate medical documentation.”  

Though it is not yet known why Pennsylvania recently suspended his license, it is strongly suspected to be related to Gleason’s August 2008 criminal conviction in New York for the federal misdemeanor of “misbranding” a drug, in that he “did knowingly and intentionally introduce into interstate commerce…Xyrem (a central nervous system drug approved to treat narcolepsy and daytime sleepiness), that was misbranded within the meaning of 21 U.S.C. § 352 (f), in that [he] was marketing Xyrem for medical indications that were not approved by the FDA when [he]…well knew and believed, Xyrem’s labeling lack adequate directions for such uses and adequate warnings against such uses where such uses could be dangerous to the user’s health.”  

Gleason was paid by the drug’s maker to appear at speaking engagements to promote the drug for the treatment of chronic fatigue, weight loss and insomnia—indications for which it is not FDA-approved. 

He was sentenced February 22, 2010 to one year of probation.  

Source: Notice of Out of State Suspension Order, in re: Peter Charles Gleason, M.D., California license G-87635, Case Number 16-2010-210247, Medical Board of California; Judgment in a Criminal Case and Criminal Case for Sentencing, USA v. Gleason, Case No. 06cr229(S-2)-01(ENV); Final Decision and Order, In the Matter of Peter C. Gleason, M.D., License No. D24640, Case No. 2005-0922, Before the Maryland State Board of Physicians and Alex Berenson, “Indictment of doctor tests drug marketing rules,” The New York Times, 22 July 2006.

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