Texas Medical Board
Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2011

Media contact: Leigh Hopper, 512-305-7018
Customer service: 512-305-7030 or 800-248-4062

Board suspends Austin physician, David Jacoby, M.D.

On Monday, May 16, 2011, a disciplinary panel of the Texas Medical Board held a Temporary Suspension Hearing Without Notice and suspended the license of Austin physician David James Jacoby, M.D., after determining that Dr. Jacoby poses a continuing threat to the public welfare due to his lack of competence, impaired status or failure to care adequately for his patients.

The suspension went into effect immediately.

At the Temporary Suspension Hearing, Without Notice, the panel found that between 2009 and 2010 Dr. Jacoby, an emergency physician at Westlake Medical Center, prescribed multiple controlled substances to a family member and to associates of his son for non-medical purposes with the understanding that he and his son would receive a portion of the pills prescribed.

On December 19, 2010, Dr. Jacoby's son was found dead at their home. The autopsy indicated he died due to multiple drug toxicity. The toxicology report showed that Soma, Norco, Valium and other drugs were found in his system at the time of death.

Police investigating the son's death discovered multiple empty prescription pill bottles under the son's bed. The majority were labeled as having been prescribed by Dr. Jacoby to his son's friends and one family member.

Pharmacy records showed that since the date of his son's death, Dr. Jacoby continued to prescribe hydrocodone and carisoprodol to a number of the same individuals formerly associated with his son.

The suspension remains in effect until further action by the Board. A Temporary Suspension Hearing With Notice will be scheduled as soon as possible, unless the hearing is specifically waived by Dr. Jacoby.

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