A 3rd District Judge has halted enforcement of an emergency licensing order restricting the practice of an Ogden physician with a history of licensing violations.
Judge David S. Young scheduled a June 18 hearing to determine if the order restricting Dr. Wesley Grant Harline's medical practice is necessary or constitutional. The order prohibited Harline from performing plastic surgery procedures, such as breast augmentations and face lifts, and keeping patients overnight in his clinic.Young issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, postponing the emergency licensing action taken Friday by the state Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing.
The attorney general's office late Tuesday filed a motion to reconsider the restraining order. The state hadn't received a response to its motion early Wednesday, a division spokeswoman said.
"He was devastated," Harline's attorney Paul Cotro-Manes said of his client's reaction to receiving the licensing order Friday evening. "He had patients in his clinic and the state basically directed him to put them on the street."
Cotro-Manes said Harline also denies charges brought against him in licensing petitions.
The most recent petition against Harline adds accusations of substituting silicone for saline during a breast augmentation surgery, failing to maintain sanitary conditions in his clinic and failing to secure his clinic's drug supply.
Petitions filed earlier this year accused Harline of disfiguring patients, performing second-trimester abortions, abusing prescription drugs and misrepresenting malpractice insurance coverage to gain hospital privileges.
Friday's order said the state didn't take emergency action when the initial petition was filed in February because regulators expected the petition would prompt Harline to comply with state standards. But subsequent amendments indicated Harline continues to engage in unprofessional conduct posing a "significant and immediate danger to the public health, safety and welfare," the order said.
In addition to the emergency order restricting Harline's practice, licensing regulators are seeking sanctions against his licenses to practice and prescribe drugs. A hearing on the petition has been set for June 16 and will not be affected by Young's restraining order.
Since 1977, Harline has been disciplined three times by licensing regulators. As a result, his license has been on probation for eight of the past 14 years and was suspended for three months in 1985.