SANFORD  — The Board of Licensure in Medicine on Thursday said it has placed Sanford physician Dr. Malathy Sundaram on probation.

The state licensing agency in a news release said it, along with the Maine Attorney General’s Office and Sundaram have entered into a consent agreement that has resolved four complaints against her medical license. The complaints were based on treatment and communication issues, the licensing board wrote. 

The consent agreement was signed by Sundaram on Aug. 4.

The agreement spells out that Sundaram must obtain a clinical competence assessment from the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians. An education plan must be implemented if the assessment identifies areas of improvement, according to the licensing board. If an education plan is needed, the doctor must enroll in the CPEP Practice Monitoring Program for at least two years following the completion of the education plan, the consent agreement states.

Sundaram has been licensed as a physician in Maine since 2003.

The 2015 and 2016 complaints include reports from two of her patients that she diagnosed their illness as Lyme disease when doctors they engaged after leaving her practice told them they hadn’t had the disease. The doctor told the licensing board her diagnosis and treatment in one case included the patient’s report of a prior tick bite and a lab results. The doctor acknowledged that there was no tick bite in the second case, but the diagnosis of Lyme disease was based on a lab result and the patient’s other symptoms.

A third complaint involved her choice of prescription for a dementia patient in an assisted living environment. 

The fourth involved communication with a patient.

The state licensing board in 2016 ordered an independent outside review of 20 patient charts. According to the consent decree, the review identified several issues related to medical decision-making, medical knowledge, prescribing practices and ordering of tests and medical record documentation.

A consent agreement avoids an adjudicatory hearing.

Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine Assistant Executive Director Timothy Terranova said the length of Sundaram’s probation will depend on the outcome of the assessment.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.