A central Newfoundland doctor has been suspended again, this time for his careless and potentially fatal prescribing of narcotics.
Dr. Todd Young is no stranger to the dangers of opioids and addictions, it being a key part of his practice in Springdale. Which makes his latest run-in with the College of Physicians and Surgeons all the more surprising.
Young was handed a four-month suspension yesterday for mistakes he made prescribing narcotics, and subsequent attempts to cover them up.
One involved a patient he saw virtually in 2020, after which he prescribed an additional drug. He later admitted altering the original prescription and medical records, and back-dating a letter to try to hide the error.
That patient wasn’t harmed, but two men did overdose after being prescribed methadone and the more potent Metadol by Young before they left for a remote work site last year. They had to be medevaced to hospital and recovered, but Young was found to have miscalculated a dosage and failed to arrange supervision with staff at the site.
Young’s suspension, while warranted, will further stress the ranks of rural physicians in the province. But it won’t take effect until Nov. 10, and will be served in blocks of time to lessen the impact on patients.
This is not the first time Young has been disciplined by the College.
In 2015 his licence was suspended for a year-and-a-half for having a sexual relationship with one patient and inappropriately hugging and kissing another.