The Iowa Board of Medicine announced last week, in a rare emergency order, that they have suspended the license of an anesthesiologist who practices in Council Bluffs. In suspending his license, the Board alleges 47-year old Dr. Michael C. Prescher engaged in “sexual misconduct and professional incompetency while performing injection procedures for pain treatment on two female patients who were under sedation.”

In making their decision, the board alleged that Prescher provided pain treatment to the women after hours in his office when no other health-care provider or staff person was present; that he didn’t charge them for the service; that the level of sedation reportedly provided for their respective procedures was unnecessary; and that he didn’t maintain medical records for the women. The board says the alleged incidents took place in 2009 and 2010.  They didn’t provide details on just how those incidents came to light.

Under terms of the emergency adjudicative order, Prescher is prohibited from practicing medicine until the matter is resolved, the board said. A hearing on the matter will take place January 12th.

On Friday, after officials at Jennie Edmundson Hospital in the Bluffs learned of the license suspension, Prescher’s clinical and admitting privileges immediately were suspended. Hospital officials said that means he will no longer be able to admit, treat, operate, or perform other such functions at the facility.