Doctor, 85, who doesn’t use computers fights to keep her medical license

An 85-year-old doctor is going to court to keep her medical license, which is at risk because she doesn’t use computers and therefore can’t comply with the use of the state’s prescription drug monitoring program.

Anna Konopka, M.D., a general practitioner in New London, New Hampshire, was told to stop seeing patients last Friday, although she is seeking court action to win back her medical license, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. Konopka, who has practiced for 55 years, told the newspaper the state Board of Medicine pressured her to surrender her license last month.

Konopka said it's because she doesn’t use computers and does not have access to New Hampshire’s PDMP. 

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The state licensing board is challenging her record-keeping, prescribing practices and medical decision-making, the newspaper reported. Konopka had sought an emergency hearing, but had to close her office Oct. 13 when her license expired.

She has a hearing on Nov. 3 to try and get her license reinstated, according to NECN News.

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Another New England doctor is also taking legal action in an unrelated civil case. An infertility specialist has filed a lawsuit against Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system based in Lebanon, New Hampshire, charging she was laid off because of a disability and her whistleblowing action reporting wrongdoing to top officials at the medical center.

Misty Blanchette Porter, M.D., brought a federal civil rights suit in Vermont, where she resides, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. Her lawsuit charges the Dartmouth-Hitchcock administration with wrongful discharge, violating the federal Whistleblowers Protection Act and discrimination and retaliation, the newspaper said. The medical center closed the program where she worked last June.