The Texas Medical Board has temporarily suspended the license of Richardson psychiatrist Dr. Wayne Charles Jones for what the board calls “unprofessional, abusive, and threatening conduct in regard to a patient.” Jones, who has been in practice for 54 years, has had several formal complaints and restrictions over the past 24 years. He has received prior board discipline but has never had his license suspended until now.
The most recent suspension comes after a sister agency discovered what TMB documents call threatening text messages that Jones, a UT Southwestern graduate, sent to a patient and witness to get TMB complaints against him dismissed.
According to the documents, Jones wrote, “I may need to send the police to do a wellness check[.] She may be held prisoner. What did she say about me and rape attempt charge. If she filed any complaint her life will be over…If she doesn’t back off the rape attempt I have to call the police today and get a protective order for from [redacted]…Otherwise I am in constant danger and I need to get a gun ASAP. This is major league and in life and death issues plus my being criminally charged by the board.”
Later, documents say he promised to get controlled substances for a witness or withhold them if she didn’t cooperate with him. This April, he sent a text that said, “I’ll cut her off from [redacted]. She’ll never be able to get Xanax…The only chance we have is for us to work together.”
Jones also confirmed that he allowed a counselor to prescribe controlled substances on his behalf, and texts show that he was intimidating others to misrepresent information to the TMB to dismiss the case against him. TMB documents also allege that he had a deal with another physician to prescribe each others’ spouses controlled substances.
Jones has a lengthy disciplinary history with the Texas Medical Board. In 1999, State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) documents described a complaint against him for prescribing controlled substances to a person he knew or should have known was an abuser of drugs. The patient died of an overdose of Ritalin, Prozac, and Desoxyn, all prescribed by Jones. The 1999 complaint describes five other patients who should have been known to be drug users but were being prescribed controlled substances by Jones.
The following year, TMB put restrictions on Jones’ medical license, including improved record keeping, labeling, education, and three years of monitoring by a licensed physician. After complying with the order for under two years, TMB modified the restriction to monitor Jones’ practice quarterly.
In 2009, SOAH received another formal complaint against Jones that he prescribed controlled substances (mostly Adderall) without therapeutic reasons and failed to keep adequate records. As a result, a physician was assigned to monitor his practice for eight monitoring cycles; Jones was ordered to prepare selected patient and billing records for review by the monitor and to attend more educational classes. The TMB cleared Jones’ status in 2014.
But in 2019, the TMB alleged that Jones inappropriately touched and made inappropriate comments to a patient during a physical exam without a chaperone present. According to TMB documents, Jones said he had no memory of interacting with the patient. The TMB again restricted Jones’ license, ordering that he no longer inject or perform physical exams on female patients. He was ordered, among other things, to have a chaperone present whenever meeting with a female patient, take a competency test, complete a professional boundaries course, and take and pass the Medical Jurisprudence Examination or have his license suspended.
In 2021, after complying with the previous order, the TMB terminated the restrictions. Then a little more than a year later, the SOAH received another formal complaint that Jones prescribed drugs to multiple patients who were already taking several controlled substances without proper drug screenings and outside the standard of care. Jones was also allegedly prescribing himself several controlled substances without adequate records.
In 2010, the Dallas Morning News reported that pharmaceutical companies paid Jones tens of thousands to be a speaker, part of an investigation of physicians with disciplinary records who private companies paid to be a speaker. “I believe that either the treatments were reasonable considering the circumstances or that in some cases where my medical judgment was in error, they were reasonable errors of judgment,” he told DMN at the time. “The reason pharmaceutical companies want me is because I do such a good job, and I’m so conscientious.”
On a website for Integrative Psychiatry that matches the name, address, and academic history of Jones, it says he “has given over 1,800 presentations on stress disorders teaching primary care physicians as well as psychiatrists” and that he “always stays on the ‘cutting edge’ of stress disorders by attending over 200 hours of continuing education courses himself each year.” In a letter on the site’s homepage, he thanks patients for their patience and kindness “while everyone is struggling to find certain medications in stock, while staffing has been a challenge, in addition to other concerns. I assure you that I am still Dr. Jones and going strong. Everyone’s needs are being addressed.”
In January, another formal amended complaint was filed by the board, but there is no accompanying documentation about that complaint. The current suspension is connected to threatening messages sent to a witness about a complaint Jones wanted withdrawn from the board.
Jones isn’t the only North Texas physician to keep his medical license despite a history of unprofessional behavior. Former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, also known as Dr. Death, was able to kill and maim several of his patients over several years in several Dallas-area hospitals before losing his license. More recently, anesthesiologist Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz was arrested last year after allegedly putting nerve-blocking agents into IV bags at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas, resulting in at least 12 cardiac complications and one death. This was after years of TMB discipline, complaints, and spending time in jail for shooting a neighbor’s dog. Despite the TMB disciplinary history and criminal activity, Ortiz was still able to practice until the actions last summer.
But reform is on the way. Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 1998 into law this month, giving TMB tools it needs to protect patients. It prevents physicians who have had licenses revoked, restricted, or suspended from practicing in Texas, requires physicians to be fingerprinted during their background checks, requires that physicians be monitored monthly by the national clearinghouse for all physician complaints, and more.
Jones’ office did not respond to a request for comment. The suspension remains in place until a disciplinary panel hearing or superseding order from TMB.
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