NJ doctor’s license revoked by state for over-prescribing painkillers

State officials have revoked the medical license of a Passaic County doctor for "indiscriminately" prescribing highly addictive painkillers, the acting New Jersey Attorney General said Thursday.

Mohamed Kawam JabakjI, also known as “Dr. Kawam,” prescribed Oxycodone, Percocet and Codeine, to at least six patients without proper medical justification, Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy said Thursday. JabakjI operated a medical practice in Prospect Park.

The New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners revoked the doctor's license, claiming that prescribing the "highly addictive painkillers" to his patients presented a “clear and imminent danger to the public.”

The doctor's medical license had already been temporarily suspended in April of last year, authorities said.

"In temporarily suspending his license, the board found that Kawam’s monitoring and screening of patients for possible misuse or diversion of prescribed drugs and/or for use of illegal drugs was virtually non-existent, yet he repeatedly continued to indiscriminately prescribe narcotics," according to a statement from the attorney general.

The board also found that the patients who had been prescribed the painkillers weren't being screened or properly monitored for possible dependance on the medications, authorities said.

Authorities said JabakjI will not be able to apply for a reinstatement of his license for at least three years. he has also been ordered to pay a fine of $167,702 to the state, which includes $110,000 in civil penalty costs and $57,702 in reimbursement for legal expenses in connection with the state's investigation.

In addition, the doctor's ability to prescribe controlled dangerous substances to patients even after his license is reinstated is permanently revoked, according to the acting attorney general, according to the attorney general.

“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, acting director of the state Division of Consumer Affairs. “It is unfortunate that some doctors choose to be part of the problem rather than the solution.”

Toniann Antonelli is a social content producer for NJ 101.5. She can be reached at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.