Board Suspends El Paso Physician Mauricio Jimenez

El Paso physician Mauricio Ernesto Jimenez poses a threat and danger to patients and the public due to his lack of competence, impaired status and failure to adequately care for his patients, a disciplinary panel of the Texas Medical Board determined Monday during a hearing to suspend his license, which went into effect immediately.

Jimenez was not available for comment Friday.

According to a news release from the Texas Medical Board, Jimenez would write prescriptions for an employee and her son and give her cash to fill the prescriptions with the understanding that she would hand the drugs over to Jimenez. The employee also reported that Jimenez threatened to physically hurt her if he lost his DEA certificate that allowed him to prescribe controlled substances.

DEA spokeswoman Diana Apodaca said she could neither confirm nor deny that there is an ongoing investigation against Jimenez, as per DEA policy.

Jimenez admitted to pre-signing prescriptions and 194 pre-signed prescriptions were found during a search of his office, the release said. Investigators also found more than 100 bottles of prescription medications issued to various patients in and around Jimenez’s the office, including in his personal desk drawer.

An assistant at Jimenez’s office, who would not give their name, told ABC-7 about noon Friday that Jimenez hadn’t been into the office, though he was still expected to come in. The assistant said that the office is not seeing patients anymore until further notice and couldn’t say whether office hours had changed. The office assistant would not provide contact information, but would inform Jimenez that ABC-7 sought comment.

This order remains in effect until the Board takes further action.