Psychiatrist Vicki Olivia Morrow Agrees to Place License in Inactive Status

A North Carolina psychiatrist Dr. Vicki Olivia Morrow agreed Friday to a consent order with the N.C. Medical Board that placed her license in an inactive status.

 

The board filing said Morrow began providing psychotherapy and medication management to an unidentified male patient. Morrow prescribed the patient Adderall and Xanax after diagnosing him with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 

 

In February 2016, the patient withdrew $9,900 from his retirement account to pay Morrow for past psychotherapy sessions. Morrow claimed the payments were for 40 psychotherapy sessions with the patient, but the board said that prior to the payment, she “never presented any invoices or bills for her services.”

 

The board cited Morrow’s decision to prescribe the patient with Xanax “despite his history of severe alcohol use disorder and indications that he continued to abuse alcohol.” Morrow was cited for failing to adequately document the need for prescribing Xanax to the patient. There also was no documentation that she had warned the patient of the potential harm from using Xanax, including that he should use a low dose.

 

The patient died in June 2016.

 

In her response to the board’s findings, Morrow reimbursed part of the money she received from the patient’s retirement fund to the beneficiary of the plan, as well as agreeing to take continuing medical education courses “regarding maintaining proper patient boundaries and the prescribing of benzodiazepines.”

 

Richard Craver, "Surry psychiatrist agrees to place license in inactive status," Winston-Salem Journal, 29 May 2018, http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/surry-psychiatrist-agrees-to-place-license-in-inactive-status/article_de7a2077-f924-5cab-a75a-fe033beafef2.html