Doctor who detoxed stars cited

The state medical board has accused Dr. David A. Kipper, a Beverly Hills physician with a celebrity clientele, of overprescribing habit-forming drugs and running an illegal detoxification program for addicts.

Kipper, an internist with no training in addiction medicine, has offered a detoxification regimen to celebrity patients for years. Treating them in their homes or in luxury hotels, he used a variety of medications to wean addicts off drugs quickly and painlessly.

In Hollywood circles, the program was long seen as a discreet alternative to traditional drug rehabilitation, which can last months and require years of follow-up therapy.

In a complaint dated Nov. 26 and served on Kipper Wednesday, the medical board contended that he violated state health and safety codes by operating an unlicensed detox program at locations where such treatment is prohibited, including hotel suites, the estates of several patients and his Beverly Hills office.

FOR THE RECORD:
Addiction treatment -- An article in the Dec. 4 California sectionabout Dr. David A. Kipper stated incorrectly that a complaint filedagainst him by the Medical Board of California said he had detoxifieddrug addicts in hotel suites. Kipper, a Beverly Hills internist, hasdetoxified addicts in hotels but the complaint did not cite thispractice. The article also erred in stating that Kipper has notraining in addiction medicine. It should have said that Kipper isnot certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine or theCalifornia Society of Addiction Medicine.

The 44-page document also charges Kipper with gross negligence, contending that he repeatedly prescribed excessive amounts of dangerous drugs. The complaint seeks revocation of Kipper’s medical license.

Kipper’s patients include entertainment executives, producers, actors and musicians. The complaint cites eight patients, identified by their initials.

Kipper declined to comment. His attorney, John Harwell, said a tentative settlement that would allow Kipper to keep his license had been submitted to the board.

Board officials declined to comment on the proposed settlement.

The complaint follows a protracted legal battle between the board and Kipper, who had refused to surrender some patient records on grounds of confidentiality. Ultimately, a court ordered Kipper to turn over the files and pay a $90,000 fine plus fees.

Authorities began investigating Kipper five years ago, after an article in The Times reported that he was running an unorthodox detox program at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, next door to his office.

The article quoted Kipper as saying he had detoxified more than 40 addicts at the Peninsula and that his program, which included the use of buprenorphine, a powerful synthetic opiate, might not be “completely legal.”

It was illegal to use buprenorphine for detoxification in the U.S. when Kipper was treating addicts at the Peninsula and the patients cited in the board’s complaint.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of buprenorphine for detoxification in October 2002, but set strict conditions which Kipper had not met.

According to the complaint, Kipper gave one patient 110 injections of buprenorphine during a 140-day detoxification at the patient’s home. Kipper allegedly gave another patient 120 doses of the drug.

The board also criticized Kipper for prescribing habit-forming medications to some patients after he had detoxified them.

Kipper told The Times in 1998 that he used buprenorphine “specifically for heroin detoxification,” but wrote on patients’ medical charts that he was prescribing the drug for pain relief, then the only permissible use.

After the Times article appeared, Beverly Hills officials told the Peninsula and other hotels that it was illegal for doctors to detoxify addicts on their premises. The management of the Peninsula then barred Kipper from treating patients at the hotel.

Sources said the internist continued to detox affluent addicts at unlicensed facilities, including the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood.

The medical board complaint says that Kipper’s treatments frequently were not effective and that several of his patients quickly relapsed.