A Brunswick psychiatrist has been placed on probation by the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine after a complaint about the medications she was prescribing for a patient with a history of addiction.

Dr. Whitney Houghton, M.D. was placed on probation for a year, based on an investigation into Houghton’s record keeping and prescribing practices. During her probation, Houghton must transition to and maintain typewritten records that meet psychiatric standards, complete a recordkeeping/charting course and provide records for board review.

The board received a complaint in April 2014 from the husband of a patient, saying that his wife had a long history of addiction and that Houghton was still prescribing medications to her. The board had an independent outside expert review Hougton’s records and found that they did not meet the standard of care, also noting concerns with specific medications she prescribed to the patient.

Houghton completed a three-day psychopharmacology course at Massachusetts General Psychiatry Academy in October.

All board disciplinary actions are reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank and the Federation of State Medical Boards Action Data Bank and reviewed by every state licensing board in the country.

Disciplinary actions taken by the licensure board are available to the public at (207) 287-3601, or at www.maine.gov/md.


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