LAS VEGAS (AP) — A doctor was disciplined by Nevada state pharmacy regulators after they found he improperly accessed prescription records of the dead gunman in last October's mass shooting in Las Vegas, his lawyer said Thursday.
Dr. Ivan Goldsmith could have lost of his ability to prescribe medications, but attorney E. Brent Bryson said he was instead ordered to pay a $10,000 fine; $16,000 in attorney fees and costs, and serve one year of probation.
"Dr. Goldsmith is pleased that he still has his licenses and is able to serve the medical needs of the community while he winds down his clinical practice here in Las Vegas," Bryson said.
Pharmacy Board attorney Brett Kandt could not immediately be reached for comment.
Bryson said Goldsmith invoked his Fifth Amendment constitutional right not to testify against himself at his disciplinary hearing on Wednesday in Reno.
Goldsmith, who was not gunman Stephen Paddock's doctor, was found to have violated the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the patient privacy law known as HIPAA, by accessing a password-protected pharmacy database to look up Paddock's prescription profile.
Goldsmith was also found disclosed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Paddock had been prescribed diazepam, an anti-anxiety drug better known as Valium, the panel found.
Bryson noted that Goldsmith did not admit wrongdoing. The attorney declined to say whether Goldsmith, a weight loss specialist, accessed Paddock's records.
Two other medical practitioners received letters of reprimand for trying unsuccessfully to access the records after the Review-Journal story was published last Oct. 3.
Bryson said Goldsmith has moved to Florida, where he is licensed to practice medicine, and now works with a relative in the finance business.
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