POULSBO — An order to restore or not restore Dr. Narinder Duggal’s medical license could come by the end of September.

The state Medical Quality Assurance Commission heard testimony July 17-22, then deliberated and reached a decision, according to Rick Glein, director of legal services for the commission.

“It then became the health law judge’s job to take the panel’s findings and draft the Hearing Order,” Glein wrote in an email Sept. 14. “It typically takes 45-60 days for us to get a Hearing Order.”

At stake is the future of Duggal’s ability to practice medicine, as well as his reputation.

Duggal was owner of the now-defunct Liberty Bay Internal Medicine on Bond Road and Highway 305 in Poulsbo when he was accused by several former patients of overprescribing medication. One former patient also alleged Duggal made sexual advances toward her, and said it caused her psychological harm.

Based on an investigation into the allegations by eight former patients, the state Medical Quality Assurance Commission determined Duggal had overprescribed medication and made advances toward a former patient. Duggal surrendered his license on Jan. 15, 2014, but two weeks later changed his mind and requested a hearing so he could respond to the commission’s findings. The commission declined. The state Court of Appeals later ruled Duggal was entitled to the hearing that took place in July.

Meanwhile, three of the former patients sued Duggal in Superior Court. The first civil case was dismissed on June 19, 2015, when the plaintiff, representing herself after her attorney withdrew, said she wouldn’t be ready to go to trial on the scheduled date.

The plaintiff in the second civil case dropped her lawsuit on Oct. 14, 2015. Court documents show that the plaintiff, a law school graduate and certified conflict resolution consultant, had submitted a list of 20 witnesses and 29 evidentiary exhibits only a day earlier. Duggal’s attorney, Thomas Olmstead, later said the lawsuit was dropped and there was no settlement.

In the third case, in which malpractice was alleged, a jury found on Feb. 1, 2017, that Duggal was not negligent in the care and treatment he provided to the plaintiff. The plaintiff is appealing the decision. According to court documents, the Superior Court did not allow documents related to the Medical Quality Assurance Commission investigation to be admitted as evidence. Duggal’s director of pharmacology at Liberty Bay Internal Medicine was disciplined by the state for issues related to the same plaintiff’s level of care.

“Our office successfully defended Dr. Duggal through a jury trial in the [most recent lawsuit],” attorney Michele C. Atkins of Favros | Law in Seattle emailed in response to a call from Kitsap News Group. “The other two litigated matters were dismissed by the court. Despite Dr. Duggal’s success in defending these actions, the Medical Quality Assurance Commission pursued allegations related to each of these three patients during the July hearing. In terms of the status of that hearing, we continue to wait for the order.”

Said he would be vindicated

Even as he began the arduous effort to restore his medical license and his reputation, Duggal said he would be vindicated and that all of the accusations against him would be proven false. The people who accused him of overprescribing medication and making sexual advances were “liars,” he said in an earlier interview.

Glein said after the jury’s decision in the third civil suit that he didn’t expect the verdict to influence the Medical Quality Assurance Commission in its reconsideration of Duggal’s license.

“The commission operates under administrative law and [the earlier findings] will all be addressed,” Glein said at the time. “We do our own investigation and it will be tried in front of other commissioners, not just lay people on a civil jury.”

Olmstead said in an earlier interview he expected Duggal would ultimately get his license back.

“In a civil case, the standard of proof is a ‘preponderance of evidence.’ For the Medical Quality Assurance Commission, it’s ‘clear and convincing evidence,’” he said. “The state is trying to prove the same thing, but how can they when it’s been dismissed at a lower [standard of evidence]?”

— Richard Walker is managing editor of Kitsap News Group. Contact him at rwalker@soundpublishing.com.