A Washington physician had her license permanently revoked after she was found to have contributed to two patient deaths and was negligent in a third case, the Columbia Basin Herald reported July 27.
The charges filed by the Washington Department of Health in the July 18 order to revoke the license of Irene Kimura, MD, said she prescribed medications without properly reviewing patient records or adequately examining the two patients, contributing to their deaths, and borrowed money from a patient without paying it back before he died.
She also is charged with inadequately supervising a third patient who showed signs of misusing the medications.
Both patients who died showed signs of abusing medications, including opioids. The first patient died after she treated him for two months in 2017. The cause of death was not reported.
She also treated a patient between 2013 and 2022. In 2013, Dr. Kimura borrowed roughly $25,000 from him and agreed to pay it back in either cash or samples of a drug. She did not pay back the whole amount before his death. He died in May 2022, the report said.
The third patient, wife to the first one, was treated by Dr. Kimura from 2017 to 2020. She showed signs of mental health disorders and substance abuse, but Dr. Kimura did not properly treat her for these conditions or make an effort to contact other physicians treating her, according to the report.