POULSBO — Trial for a malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Narinder M. Duggal has been rescheduled for April 26 in Kitsap County Superior Court.

According to the plaintiff, trial was rescheduled from Dec. 8 because the judge, Jay B. Roof, is retiring “and took himself off our case and nobody could hear the case in time.”

The plaintiff’s allegations stem from his time as a patient at Duggal’s now-closed Liberty Bay Internal Medicine in Poulsbo. The man alleges Duggal failed to “properly diagnose, treat, monitor and supervise” his care and treatment, and incorrectly prescribed medication.

The plaintiff was one of eight individuals who filed complaints with the state Medical Quality Assurance Commission about the care they received at Liberty Bay Internal Medicine. The commission investigated and determined Duggal had been negligent in his care, overprescribed medication and made sexual advances toward a patient.

Duggal agreed to close his practice and surrender his medical license. He later appealed, but his loss of license was upheld on Oct. 9 by Thurston County Superior Court. An appeal of that court’s decision was filed on Nov. 6 in the state Court of Appeals Division II, according to the office of Duggal’s attorney, Thomas Olmstead of Poulsbo.

Three of the complainants also sued Duggal in Superior Court; Duggal denies all of the allegations.

One lawsuit was dismissed June 19 after the plaintiff, who was representing herself, said four days before trial was to begin “that she will not be presenting evidence at the time the case is scheduled to be read … and is not prepared to go forward,” Superior Court Judge William Houser wrote in a document obtained from the Kitsap County Clerk’s online database. A second lawsuit, alleging malpractice and sexual assault, was dismissed on Oct. 14.

Meanwhile, Nicholas E. Wyatt, who was Duggal’s director of pharmacology at Liberty Bay Internal Medicine, faces possible sanctions — up to and including revocation of his license — by the state Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission.

Wyatt now works at Harrison Medical Center.

The commission determined that from January 2009 to July 2010, Wyatt gave a patient being seen for severe insomnia a prescription for Ambien, even though Wyatt was not registered with the Drug Enforcement Agency to do so.

The commission also determined Wyatt prescribed the patient 10 times the recommended daily dose of Ambien “without expert consultation,” putting the patient at risk of “negative side effects including exhibiting aggressive behaviors and experiencing memory loss.”