Dozier responds to medical board’s decision

The Medical Board of California recently announced Susanville physician Dr. John Courtney Dozier surrendered his medical license effective 5 p.m. June 19.

The medical board alleged gross negligence, repeated acts of negligence, excessive prescribing, furnishing drugs to an addict, prescribing controlled substances without prior appropriate examination and failure to maintain complete and accurate medical records.

Dozier said he denies the allegations, but rather than spend the time and money to contest the charges, he agreed to accept the board’s decision to suspend his license and retire as he had previously announced 2 ½ years ago.

He said he could have accepted two years probation and continued to practice under state supervision, but he had already planned to retire in May.

“Since I planned on retiring anyway, rather than dispute the facts of the case … I didn’t see any sense in continuing to go on with the legal process with the medical board to maintain my license. So we agreed to a stipulated decision of basically surrendering my license after my retirement … I want to enjoy my retirement and not spend two or three years with the medical board.”

Dozier said he practiced medicine for more than 37 years, and he believes most of his patients would support the quality of his care.