- Board of Registration in Medicine
Wakefield — At its meeting on December 5, 2019, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine took disciplinary action against the medical licenses of Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., James R. Cowan, M.D., and Preeti Rout, M.D.
In a Final Decision & Order, the Board revoked Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito’s right to renew his medical license after it found that he had been disciplined in California for conduct that undermines the public confidence in the medical profession. Such conduct includes repeatedly using illegal substances, self-administering controlled substances, prescribing to an individual who was not his patient, providing alcohol and marijuana to a minor, prescribing without conducting physical examinations, and misleading emergency responders who were trying to revive a companion suffering from an overdose. Dr. Puliafito was licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts from July 2, 1979 until he entered into a Voluntary Agreement Not to Practice Medicine with the Board on October 26, 2017. Dr. Puliafito was formerly Dean of University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine.
In another Final Decision & Order, the Board revoked Dr. James R. Cowan’s right to renew his medical license after it found that he had been disciplined in New Jersey for a cause substantially similar to that for which he could be disciplined in Massachusetts; allowing an unlicensed person to prescribe controlled substances on his behalf, billing insurance companies for medical services he did not provide and failing to record patients’ medical information. Dr. Cowan was licensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth from October 1999 until March 2011. He last practiced medicine in New Jersey in a solo psychiatric practice.
The Board accepted Dr. Preeti Rout’s resignation of her right to renew her medical license. Resignation is a disciplinary action that permanently removes a physician from the practice of medicine. Dr. Rout last practiced medicine in Maryland in 2017.
The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine licenses more than 40,000 physicians, osteopaths and acupuncturists. The Board was created in 1894 to protect the public health and safety by setting standards for the practice of medicine and ensuring that doctors who practice in the Commonwealth are appropriately qualified and competent. The Board investigates complaints and determines sanctions. More information is available at www.mass.gov/massmedboard, or you may contact the Board at borimmedia@massmail.state.ma.us.