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An Oneida County doctor whose license was suspended in 2007 for having sex with patients has been temporarily barred from practicing medicine again, this time for trying to sell prescription painkillers.
The state Board for Professional Medical Conduct ordered Dr. Arthur M. Mercado, 60, of New Hartford to stop practicing while it investigates misconduct charges against him related to a recent criminal conviction.
Mercado pleaded guilty Nov. 22 in Oneida County Court to attempted criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance, a felony. In January he was sentenced to five years of probation and his driver’s license was suspended.
The prescriptions were for painkillers including percocet, hydrocodone and oxycodone, said Grant Garramone, narcotics unit chief for the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office. Garramone’s office, the state Health Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigated Mercado for prescriptions he wrote between January and November of 2015.
Licensed health professionals convicted of crimes are automatically charged by the state with professional misconduct. The state board will hold a hearing on Mercado’s case in June which could result in his medical license being suspended again or revoked.
The state suspended Mercado’s medical license in 2007 for nine months, fined him $7,400 and said he could only examine and treat female patients with a chaperone present.
The state took that action after accusing Mercado of having sex with two patients.