Doctor, Stamford Resident 'Excessively Used' Drugs: CT Med Board

STAMFORD, CT — The Connecticut Medical Examining Board last week disciplined a doctor accused of "excessively" using drugs, inappropriately treating family members which involved issuing prescriptions, including controlled substances, and failing to maintain medical records.

Dr. Scott Berger, of Stamford, must pay a civil penalty of $10,000, according to the consent order approved by the board during its May 20 meeting.

Additionally, Berger's physician and surgeon license is permanently restricted in that "he may not engage in the practice of medicine involving direct patient care and he may not prescribe medication."

Berger's license will be on probation for one year under several terms, including drug testing and medication management.

According to the consent order, from approximately 2014 to 2020, Berger "abused and/or excessively used opioids" after being prescribed medications for pain associated with numerous physical disorders.

From 2017 through October 2020, Berger "violated the standard of care for one or more patients" in that he prescribed controlled substances and failed to evaluate and assess patients and review and collect supporting medical records, the consent order says, adding that he prescribed controlled substances "without clinical justification and without a patient relationship."

The consent order says that from approximately 2018 through October 2020, Berger treated one or more family members and prescribed medications, including controlled substances, and failed to maintain medical records and "did not convey relevant information to the family members' primary care providers."

Berger's case was referred to the CT Medical Examining Board from the CT Department of Health's Drug Control Division, said Joelle Newton, staff attorney, during the May 20 meeting.

Berger voluntarily surrendered his Connecticut Controlled Substance Registration Certificate in October 2020, the consent order notes.

Newton said Berger has not actively practiced medicine since 2021, and currently does consulting work on a part-time basis.

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A graduate of Weill Cornell Medical College, Berger had a residency and fellowship at Yale New Haven Hospital, according to his attorney, Joyce Lagnese.

A LinkedIn profile associated with Berger shows he practiced in Danbury for over 13 years, and in Mt. Kisco, N.Y., for over nine years.

Lagnese said Berger was board-certified in radiology with added qualifications in neuroradiology.

"Then two years after beginning in practice, he developed a severe, unremitting cough that profoundly affected his quality of life and his ability to practice his profession," Lagnese told the medical examining board.

Lagnese said Berger was misdiagnosed, and numerous inhalers failed to control his cough. She said Berger was eventually prescribed with narcotic cough suppressants, the only effective treatment for his condition.

"He then developed kidney stones, he had painful osteoporotic spinal compression fractures, for which he was also prescribed narcotics by other physicians. This was all during an era, of course, when the threshold for prescribing opiates was low, to say the least," Lagnese said.

In 2013, Berger was correctly diagnosed with a rare form of sarcoidosis, and he started on appropriate therapies, Lagnese said.

"At this point, he came to appreciate that he had become dependent on opiates and immediately sought treatment," Lagnese noted.

Since then, Lagnese said, Berger has been under the care of a prominent addiction specialist and has not relapsed.

"I've come to know Dr. Berger and have worked with him through this process, and he readily acknowledges and accepts responsibility for this very dysfunctional period in his life and is paying a steep price with this consent order," Lagnese said. "But he understands and accepts that one is responsible for their behavior."