Doctor fights sanctions, saying he’ll be ‘run out of practice’ by Iowa board

A former central Iowa physician who allegedly admitted using cocaine daily before entering treatment is arguing in court that efforts to suspend his license threaten his livelihood and would be “the kiss of death” for his medical practice in California.

According to the Iowa Board of Medicine, Dr. Chad Becker, who once practiced at UnityPoint Health’s Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, admitted routinely consuming an excessive amount of drugs and/or alcohol prior to 2022, resulting in a referral to the Iowa Physician Health Program for treatment.

According to the board, Becker ultimately chose not to comply with the program’s requirements and so the issue of his substance abuse was referred back to the board in November 2022.

In February 2026, the board ruled a license suspension of 90 days was warranted, as was an $8,000 civil penalty. Becker is now seeking judicial review of that suspension as well as the board’s subsequent refusal to grant him a new hearing on the matter.

In court papers filed Wednesday, Becker said he is currently working as a full-time emergency room physician in California. He stated that after the Iowa board’s disciplinary action was reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, which tracks physician discipline across all 50 states, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration became involved and a DEA investigator demanded he sign a “voluntary surrender” of his DEA registration to handle controlled substances.

“They claimed that it was because my DEA registration had not been ‘retired’ after my Iowa medical license had expired,” Becker said in a sworn affidavit. He said he has refused to sign the document, and the DEA is now “reconsidering the situation” due to his demand for a hearing on the matter.

“I could lose my career over this,” Becker told the court in his affidavit. “I am sure my career would have been over if I had a lifetime NPDB report that said the federal DEA and the Department of Justice had revoked my DEA registration for ‘admitted’ violations of federal narcotics laws.”

He said his current employer, after learning of the report to the NPDB, “invoked an immediate review of my employment situation,” but has agreed to temporarily delay taking any credentialing or privileging action “to see where this process goes.”

Becker said his “employer group” has applied for privileges at a hospital but has been notified that the hospital “is now in a deep review of my application for privileges due to the NPDB report.” Becker is asking the court “to at least temporarily void” the medical board’s report to the National Practitioner Data Bank pending further orders of the court.

“I do not understand why the Iowa Board of Medicine seems so adamant in interfering with my practice in California when they know there were serious issues with the way the whole matter was handled over all these years in Iowa over the complaints by my long-time ex-girlfriend and my ex-wife,” Becker told the court. “It would be horrible if I am run out of practice due to these preliminary notices and actions.”

Board charges resulted in suspension

The dispute centers on the March 2025 action by the board in which Becker was charged with two counts of misconduct: substance abuse and committing a practice harmful or detrimental to the public. The board alleged Becker’s substance abuse had created a risk of harm to the public and that it did, in fact, create the “actual harm of providing care while impaired.”

Initially, the board alleged Becker’s substance abuse created the “actual harm of providing care while impaired,” although it later reversed itself on that point.

Becker then entered rehabilitation, according to the board, and began working as a physician in California. It was during his treatment there, the board alleges, that Becker acknowledged he had been using cocaine daily, along with other substances.

At a hearing on his disciplinary charges, the Iowa board presented evidence that Becker admitted to hallucinating while at work and to needing fluids prior to work shifts. Becker countered that using fluids to minimize his hangovers “just showed he was not impaired while working,” according to the board’s summary of the hearing evidence.

In a brief filed with the court last week, the Iowa Board of Medicine contends that “Becker’s addiction was uncontrolled in that it was escalating without any treatment and routinely fed by use within 24 hours of a shift. Dr. Becker did not have a couple of momentary slips during the course to post-rehabilitation maintenance care; he was slowly sliding into the proverbial pit of addiction having never even made it to rehabilitation in the first instance.”

A hearing on the matter is expected to be held June 5, 2026, according to court records.