Sex, pills and Botox: Missouri doctor’s license suspended after multiple violations

From March 2013 to August 2015, central Missouri physician Justin LaMonda gave a patient a long list of drugs she didn’t need — including painkillers, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications and sedatives — without keeping records.

He was also having sex with her in his office and exam rooms.

Those were the findings of the Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts in an order handed down earlier this month that suspended LaMonda’s medical license for three years.

The board’s order stated that LaMonda used “the physician-patient relationship for purposes of engaging in sexual activity” with the unnamed patient. His actions “constitute unethical or unprofessional behavior” and “practices which were, or might have been, harmful to the mental or physical health” of the patient, the board said.

The board listed 39 drugs that LaMonda gave the patient “without conducting sufficient examinations of Patient 1 and not in the course of professional practice.” Among them were Tramadol, a highly addictive opioid painkiller, and Valium, an anti-anxiety drug that can be deadly when combined with other medications or alcohol.

LaMonda did not respond to a message left at his office Thursday morning.

Under the terms of the order the board will lift LaMonda’s suspension after 30 days if he completes a “professional boundaries course.” At that point he would be allowed to practice medicine in Missouri again, while under probation for five years.

LaMonda is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, is an internal medicine doctor who until recently had been affiliated with the Moberly Regional Medical Center near Columbia.

“He’s not practiced at our hospital for quite some time,” said Heather Gessling, the chief of staff of Moberly Regional. “He’s used hospitalist services and he was terminated Wednesday as a member of our staff.”

He has been licensed to practice in Missouri since 2012 and it’s not the first time he’s been sanctioned by the state’s medical board. The board publicly reprimanded him in November 2014 for his role as medical director of the “Aesthetic Studio” in Columbia.

The studio, which was also known as the Advanced VIP MedSpa, was owned by a registered nurse. According to the medical board, LaMonda allowed the nurse to perform soft tissue filler injections with products like Botox, which she was not licensed to perform without a formal collaborative practice agreement with a supervising physician.

LaMonda and the nurse had no such formal agreement, the board’s order said.

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Sex, pills and Botox: Missouri doctor’s license suspended after multiple violations."