A former Catonsville doctor who lost his medical license last year after it was revealed he had previously been convicted of rape has settled a malpractice lawsuit with the family of a Dundalk woman who died in 2010.
Dr. William Dando and the family of Grace Elliot agreed to a confidential settlement, said Jay Miller, the family's attorney. Dando did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, Miller said. An attorney for Dando could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court in 2013, said Dando wrote Elliot prescriptions for painkillers including percocet and oxycodone over a period of seven years despite concerns expressed by her and her husband that she was addicted, and after she was hospitalized for an overdose.
She died of painkiller intoxication, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also named Deven Fetzek, a physician assistant in Dando's former Catonsville medical practice, as a defendant. Fetzek was also a party to the settlement. Her attorney could not be reached.
The Maryland Board of Physicians suspended Dando's medical license in June after it was revealed that he was convicted of rape in Florida in 1987. The conviction came to light after a female patient accused Dando of sexually assaulting her at a Western Maryland urgent care center.
Dando was charged with sexual assault for the alleged April 2014 incident, but Allegany County prosecutors dropped the case in September when he agreed to give up his medical license.
The board's oversight of Dando's past rape conviction prompted an inspector general investigation and a push for legislation requiring criminal background checks of doctors. Gov. Larry Hogan signed the measure into law last month.
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