Doctor loses license, locks doors

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - A Norfolk doctor locked the doors after losing his medical license.

Health department records say Dr. Flordelino Lagundino prescribed excessive amounts of pain killers, over a span of almost 20 years.

"He had me on like five high powered medicines," said Eugene Cooper, a patient of Premier Medical Care.

Cooper says finding a doctor is an inconvenience, but he is most worried about his medical records.

"I've still got my records in that building that could just be floating around for anybody to have a field day with," said Cooper.

When patients arrived at the office off Military Highway, they found a note on the door, telling patients to leave their names and numbers to obtain medical records.

WAVY.com asked to speak with Dr. Lagundino, but employee Kim Cook said he was not at the office.

"The door is locked and their records are back there, so their records are protected," said Cook.

Cook says she and the only other employee are doing everything they can to get hundreds of records in the right hands. She says Dr. Lagundino checks in regularly.

"I've been kept very much in the dark," she said.

The health department website documents a long list of Dr. Lagundino's wrongdoing . A license termination dated , February 7, says he is "incompetent to practice medicine" noting he "unethically prescribed controlled substances of high abuse over the course of almost two decades."

The Virginia Board of Medicine claims Dr. Lagundino prescribed opiates in excessive amounts, when patients had no need for them. In one case, investigators found Dr. Lagundino gave one patient nine prescriptions in a two month period, but it appears she wasn't the one taking the drugs.

Patients say that is not the doctor they knew.

"He made me take four drug tests to make sure I was not messing up on different medicines," said Cooper. "He seemed to be playing straight."

The paperwork also says Lagundino lied to investigators when asked about his criminal history. The board says he did not mention convictions for distribution, prescription and injection of drugs or his conviction for Medicaid fraud.

Documentation shows, Lagundino consented to the claims previously, and in doing so admitted fault. He earned his license back by completing classes required by the board.     

Dr. Lagundino will get a chance to tell his side of the story at a hearing later this month.