State Medical Board Lets Abortionist Partially Resume Practice Pending Hearing in December

Abortion, , ,

On Thursday the Arkansas State Medical Board agreed to let abortionist Dr. Tom Tvedten partially resume his practice, pending a hearing before the board in December.

Dr. Tvedten is an owner and medical director of Little Rock Family Planning Services, Arkansas’ only surgical abortion facility. The facility utilizes other abortion doctors besides Dr. Tvedten.

The State Medical Board suspended Dr. Tvedten’s medical license in August due to allegations that Dr. Tvedten “exhibited gross negligence and ignorant malpractice” in evaluating, diagnosing, and certifying a minor for a medical marijuana card.

Discussion between board members, Dr. Tvedten, and Dr. Tvedten’s attorney was live streamed during Thursday’s board meeting.

Members of the State Medical Board questioned the manner in which Dr. Tvedten evaluates and certifies patients to use “medical marijuana.” One made statements indicating Dr. Tvedten disregarded the opinions of two separate, board-certified pediatric psychiatrists in certifying the minor to use medical marijuana. However, the board opted not to have a full disciplinary hearing on the issue until December.

Obviously, this state board meeting raises a lot of questions.

The board indicated it will have a hearing in December to determine if Dr. Tvedten violated state law and should be penalized. It’s possible Dr. Tvedten and his attorney could reach some sort of agreement with the medical board to avoid further disciplinary action. For the time being, however, the board has let him partially resume his practice.

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State Lottery Spends Another $7K on Travel in September

Arkansas Lottery

Based on information from the state’s transparency website, the Arkansas Lottery spent approximately $7,000 reimbursing employees for mileage expenses in September, and a little over $30,000 total on mileage since July 1.

State employees receive 42 cents for every mile they travel on state business in their personal vehicles; some employees average hundreds of dollars every month in reimbursement for their mileage. The Arkansas Lottery probably could save a lot of money by using state vehicles for travel instead of paying employees to drive their personal vehicles.

The Arkansas Lottery spends about 70% – 71% of its revenue on prizes for lottery players. About 16% – 17% goes to scholarships. The rest of the money pays for Lottery operations.

For perspective, the typical state lottery spends about 60% of its revenue on prizes and 30% on education. If the Lottery followed this model, it would be able to provide millions of dollars in additional scholarship funding.

Eleven years running, the Arkansas Lottery continues to budget its money poorly.

Photo Credit: Airtuna08 at English Wikipedia [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]

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