By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer
and the Associated Press

A Clifton doctor who co-owns or operates several clinics and urgent care centers across the Tristate will not be permitted to practice medicine in Kentucky until allegations about his prescription practices are resolved.

One employee alleged that Dr. Ghassan Haj-Hamed, 37, of Clifton prescribed OxyContin "like it is candy" at his Cold Spring urgent care center, according to a report issued by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure in Frankfort. Another employee quoted in the report told board investigators she felt "like a drug pusher," while another said patients would page Haj-Hamed at all hours for prescriptions of powerful narcotics.

Haj-Hamed, co-owner of the Urgent Care Center in Oakley and the Riverside Medical Care Clinic in Fairfield, is still licensed to practice in Ohio. He was arrested in September in Pendleton County, charged with multiple felony counts of illegally dispensing controlled substances at his former clinic in Falmouth.

Federal authorities are in the process of seizing $900,000 worth of real estate on both sides of the Ohio River.

He also faces a wrongful death suit filed Jan. 29 in Campbell County by the estate of one of his former patients, Janice Stidham. Her sister, Brenda Smith alleges in the suit that Haj-Hamed, through his practices in Bellevue and Cold Spring, contributed to her sister's death by feeding her drug addiction with more than 56 prescriptions in the last 12 months of her life.

The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure on Feb. 7 suspended the license of Haj-Hamed and his partner, 39-year-old Dr. Juan C. Mejia, on allegations the two illegally and excessively prescribed controlled substances. The board said Mejia worked at Haj-Hamed's clinics and urgent care centers.

Louisville attorney J. Fox DeMoisey said Haj-Hamed has done nothing to warrant the suspension. An appeal hearing is set for March 14.

Mejia, whose address was not available, couldn't be reached for comment.

The Kentucky order bars both from practicing in the Bluegrass state until the charges are resolved. In Ohio, however, the State Medical Board's Web site Tuesday evening shows both Haj-Hamed and Mejia as having active medical licenses in the Buckeye state.

The section of the Ohio licensure record that lists where a doctor practices is blank for Haj-Hamed. The site says Mejia practices at 375 Dixmyth Ave. in Clifton - the address of Good Samaritan Hospital and other health care offices.

A Good Samaritan spokesman reached Tuesday night said that he could not immediately confirm that Mejia had any practicing rights at the hospital and declined comment.

A spokesma for the Ohio board couldn't be reached for comment late Tuesday.

The suspension is the latest move by Kentucky and federal officials against Haj-Hamed and his medical businesses he runs with his brother Dr. Husam Hamed. Both men received their medical schooling at the University of Damascus in Syria.

The Kentucky board lists the brothers as owning Urgent Care centers in Cold Spring and Oakley and operating Riverside Medical Care clinics in Bellevue, Cold Spring and Fairfield.

Kentucky's board made no move against Husam Hamed.

Trouble for Haj-Hamed started in September when he was arrested in Falmouth, where one of his clinics was located. He is charged with prescribing pain killers without a lawful purpose after an investigation dating to 2000. Those charges are pending before a Pendleton County grand jury, according to Commonwealth's Attorney Jack Keith.

The Falmouth clinic closed soon after law enforcement officials confiscated the records.

Bob Blau, a Cold Spring lawyer representing Haj-Hamed in the criminal case, said his client is innocent of the criminal charges. Blau said seven of the 26 felony counts were dismissed after a preliminary hearing.

At one clinic in Bellevue, police frequently were called to handle disputes or traffic outside on days when Haj-Hamed was working, said Police Chief William Cole. He said cars arrived from eastern Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia parking "all over." He said fights broke out at times and prescriptions were sometimes solicited or offered for sale.

"It was worse than any country bar - it was unbelievable," he said.

Federal authorities then stepped in by filing suit in U.S. District Court in Covington to seize $900,000 worth of real estate owned by Haj-Hamed.

The suit in Covington is sealed, but as agents acted to seize property across state lines, a FBI affidavit was inadvertently placed in public files at the Hamilton County Courthouse and later posted on the Internet.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com