PRESCOTT, AZ — The Arizona State Board of Nursing suspended the license of a Prescott nurse for improperly giving a powerful sedative to patients with depression and during aesthetic treatments, among other concerns.
The board recently reached a settlement agreement with nurse practitioner Phillip Schafer after taking emergency action against him in September. The board previously voted to immediately suspend Schafer’s license due to a high risk of public health and safety based on preliminary findings.
According to a recently signed consent agreement and order, Schafer will have his nurse practitioner license suspended for up to a year, until specific requirements are met, followed by 36 months of probation with extensive monitoring.
To have his license reinstated in Arizona, Schafer must undergo a comprehensive psychological evaluation, pass quarterly drug tests, enroll in a substance abuse recovery program, and meet many other conditions outlined in the agreement.
According to the 27-page order, Schafer is also required to “be deemed safe to return to nursing practice by his evaluator and/or all treatment providers prior to being eligible for Stayed Revocation Probation.”
The nursing board found that on seven occasions, Schafer "practiced outside of his scope of practice" when he ordered IV ketamine treatments for patients he diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression without collaboration with a specialist mental health provider, according to the order.
Ketamine is a potent sedative and general anesthetic used in hospitals and by paramedics. In recent years, some clinics have started using lower doses of the drug to treat patients with mental illness, including depression through IV infusions of ketamine.
Schafer was licensed as a Family Nurse Practitioner and Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner.
The order said Schafer owned a clinic in Prescott.
Prescott Ketamine listed Schafer as a certified nurse injector and had a photo of him on its website, but the clinic recently removed Schafer from its site.
Records from the Secretary of State’s office list Schafer as the trade name applicant for Artisan Aesthetics in Prescott, and had Schafer previously listed as a member of its team on their website.
The nursing board also said Schafer wrote in an investigative questionnaire, “that he will give low dose ketamine intramuscularly for aesthetic treatments, including specific invasive CO2 lasers and Morpheus 8 micro needling procedures,” which is outside the standard of care. The standard of care for pain management for aesthetic procedures does not include giving a controlled substance like ketamine, the board said.
Schafer must also complete a minimum of 50 hours of ketamine training before he can resume prescribing the sedative, according to the consent agreement.
The board also found Schafer prescribed his employees “Oxycodone,” “Percocet” and “Codeine syrup” and “did not document an encounter for any visit in a medical record.”
Schafer also told the board, during an interview, that he was not always present in the clinic when patients were receiving IV ketamine treatments which the board said was in violation of the standard of practice.
Cody Hall, an attorney representing Schafer, did not return ABC15’s request for comment prior to this article being published on Tuesday afternoon.
Previously, Hall said Schafer disagreed with the board’s summary suspension and looked forward to responding to the allegations against him.
If Schafer violates any part of the agreement and order, the nursing board said it would automatically revoke his license for at least five years.
