BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Two doctors who once lost their medical licenses amid claims of sexual misconduct are working inside Alabama prisons with a company that has a $224 million contract to care for inmates.
Al.com (https://bit.ly/1uFCF5q ) reported Tuesday that the physicians are employed by the Tennessee-based Corizon Health, which calls itself the nation’s leading provider of health care in U.S. jails and prisons.
Records show Drs. Timothy Iliff and David J. Pavlakovic were previously barred from practicing medicine over allegations that included sexual misconduct with patients, Al.com reported.
Both doctors have since regained their licenses and can practice medicine. Iliff now works at Fountain prison in Atmore, and Pavlakovic treats inmates at St. Clair prison in Springville.
Corrections officials referred questions to Corizon, which provides health care at 552 facilities nationwide with about 362,000 prisoners in 27 states. In a statement, the company said it has programs to monitor all its employees, including physicians.
“We do this as an established standard of practice for health care systems as well as to ensure that our personnel meet acceptable standards of practice in both the delivery of clinical care as well as behaviors,” the company said.
Alabama’s prison system is currently facing a lawsuit over inmate medical care.
Iliff first surrendered his Alabama medical license in October 2009, Alabama Medical Licensure Commission records show.
An Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners complaint alleges that Iliff had sexual contact with a patient from 2007 to 2009.
That patient claimed Iliff gave her money and prescriptions for the drugs in exchange for sexual intercourse, according to the complaint. Iliff also prescribed drugs to his immediate family members and other people without keeping proper documentation.
Iliff also tried to get drugs by calling a pharmacy on July 8, 2009, and identifying himself as another physician, according to the complaint.
Thirteen years earlier, Iliff was charged with a felony in Lowndes County, Miss., for attempting to obtain drugs fraudulently, according to the complaint. The complaint states he agreed to two years of active probation and avoided a conviction.
In January 2012, Iliff reapplied for his Alabama medical license. At that time, he stated that he had an inappropriate relationship with a woman he worked with and gave her pills without a prescription, Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners records show. In his application for reinstatement, Iliff wrote that he was arrested in 2009 after he attempted to pick up a phony prescription for his co-worker and had a bottle of hydrocodone in his car.
The commission reinstated Iliff’s medical license in August 2012 after he agreed to a treatment plan.
Reached at Fountain prison, Illiff said, “you just better make sure what you say is true and factual,” before declining further comment, Al.com reported.
Pavlakovic’s license was suspended in September 2008 after the state’s license commission alleged he had sexual contact with four female patients and attempted to have sex with a fifth patient. The Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners contended that Pavlakovic agreed to give one of his patients drugs in exchange for oral sex, and he asked another patient for a date.
Pavlakovic testified before the commission in May 2009 and admitted to many of the allegations against him, according to an order from the Alabama Medical Licensure Commission. One month later, the commission lifted the suspension on Pavlakovic’s license and put him on probation pending the completion of treatment program.
Court records show Pavlakovic also was charged with sexual abuse in 2008, but the case was dismissed.
Pavlakovic declined comment.
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