State officials have suspended the license of a physician’s assistant who’s been working in the central Iowa town of Adel. According to the Iowa Board of Physician Assistants, Michael Barger "appears to be professionally incompetent" and may be addicted to prescription drugs.
The board ordered Barger to be tested for drugs in mid-May, and the test found oxymorphine and two other prescription medications in his system. The board’s emergency order suggests Barger may have falsified the records of clients at the Adel Family Practice where he worked in order to obtain the medications for himself.
A hearing on Barger’s case will be held July 15th and he’ll have a chance to respond to the charges.