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Dr. Mohamed Kawam JabakjI (known as “Dr. Kawam”) prescribed Oxycodone, Percocet codeine and other pain killers to at least six patients without proper medical justification, the board found.
“It’s appalling that a member of the medical profession would help fuel New Jersey’s prescription drug abuse epidemic by prescribing highly addictive pain pills indiscriminately,” Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy said. “Physicians like Dr. Kawam, who endanger the public through greed and negligence, should be removed from practice.”
Under a consent order reached with the Board, Kawam cannot apply for the reinstatement of his medical license for at least three years. He must also pay the state $167,702, which includes a $110,000 civil penalty and a $57,702 reimbursement for investigative and legal costs.
Kawam would have to complete Board-approved record-keeping training and go before a committee to demonstrate his fitness to resume practice.
If the Board restores his license, however, Kawam would remain banned from prescribing medications classifed as Controlled Dangerous Substances (CDS), under an order by the state Division of Consumer Affairs.
“By stripping Dr. Kawam of both his medical license and the ability to prescribe CDS, the Board of Medical Examiners and the Division are making sure that the public will be protected from the harm of his indiscriminate prescribing, " said Steve Lee, the DCA's acting director. “It is unfortunate that some doctors choose to be part of the problem rather than the solution.”
The division's Enforcement Bureau conducted the investigation.
Deputy Attorneys General David M. Puteska, who is assistant chief of the Professional Boards Prosecution Section in the Division of Law, and Gezim Bajrami, are handling the case. Deputy Attorney General Megan Cordoma provided legal counsel to the Board of Medical Examiners.
Lougy and Lee wish thanked the federal Drug Enforcement Administration "for its assistance in bringing this matter to the [s]tate’s attention and in providing invaluable assistance during this investigation."
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