Illinois Regulators Suspends License of
Chicago Area Physician

CHICAGO – The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) suspended the physician and surgeon license of Irving Bush, M.D late yesterday.   Daniel E. Bluthardt, Director of the Division of Professional Regulation signed the summary suspension order earlier this afternoon.  Information that led to the petition for temporary suspension was obtained through an investigation begun in early February, after IDFPR investigators were contacted for assistance by law enforcement officials.  

Late last week, the Attorney General’s office indicted Dr. Bush for prescribing and selling controlled drugs to patients without determining whether the drugs were medically necessary.  He was arrested on Friday, July 11, 2008 and was released on bond. The Attorney General’s office became involved because the case involved alleged violations in both Cook and DuPage County. 

In the three count complaint, the Department alleges that Dr. Bush offered a patient a prescription for Vicodin without determining if the drug was medically necessary.  On subsequent meetings with the patient, both in his office and at a local restaurant, Dr. Bush provided the patient with envelops containing Xanax, Hydrocodone, Loracet and Viagra. 

All of these drugs are controlled substances and providing them to a patient in this manner could be a violation of the Medical Practice Act which prohibits prescribing, selling, administering, distributing, and/or giving any drug classified as a controlled substance or narcotic for other than medically accepted therapeutic purposes. 

Copies of the Complaint, Petition for Temporary Suspension and the Order are available here.  Dr. Bush has the right to a hearing before an administrative law judge and the Medical Disciplinary Board.  A hearing has been scheduled for July 29, 2008 in Chicago.