Illicit Drug Sales Cited as Doctor’s License Is Lifted

An El Cajon doctor’s license to practice medicine was temporarily revoked by a Superior Court judge Friday, pending a state review of charges that he has illegally prescribed potentially dangerous drugs to patients for years.

The medical practice of Dr. John Robert Welch, 53, “constitutes a public danger,” San Diego Superior Court Judge Mack Lovett concluded in granting the temporary restraining order.

“It appears he is engaging in unlawful acts . . . and his conduct constitutes a public danger. I feel I have to act on behalf of the public,” Lovett said.

Lovett ordered that Welch--who was not present--cease practicing medicine at 5 p.m. Friday.

A Welch aide said Welch is refusing comment.

Under state law, the state Board of Medical Quality Assurance (BMQA) has 75 days following the temporary revocation to decide on permanent revocation. If the BMQA doesn’t decide by that time, Welch’s license will automatically be restored.

Welch is on three years’ probation for a 1984 misdemeanor in which he sold controlled substances to a person not under his care.

California Deputy Atty. Gen. Holly Wilkins told Lovett that Welch is violating his probation by continuing to sell controlled substances to patients.

The suit filed against him Feb. 21 alleges that the doctor has sold prescription drugs in clear plastic bags to his patients and undercover agents for the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement between September, 1982, and Nov. 29, 1984.

The suit also claims Welch prescribed Quaaludes, Ritalin and sedatives to patients without giving a “good faith” medical examination first. Many of his patients are known drug addicts, the state suit claims.

The physician was also convicted in U.S. District Court last year of resisting an Internal Revenue Service agent in the performance of his duties--attempts to collect more than $100,000 in back taxes. Welch threatened to sew the agent’s mouth shut and “fill him full of holes,” state documents allege.

Welch’s attorney, John Mitchell, argued in court that the claims of wrongdoing are “innuendos, speculations in an obvious attempt to get Dr. Welch without a hearing first . . . The state of California has not made an appropriate showing. There is no showing he is a danger to the public.”

Welch has seen more than 28,000 patients in his 25 years of practice in El Cajon, Mitchell told Lovett.