UPDATE 11-13-13: Judge refuses to block law denying Medicaid payments to sex offenders (Full article following this one) and then in December: Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by Medicaid doctor convicted of child porn (No reason given)9-16-2012 Arkansas:
A southwestern Arkansas physician who is a convicted sex offender has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new state law that prohibits registered sex offenders from providing Medicaid-funded services in the state.
Dr. Lonnie Joseph Parker argues in the lawsuit filed Friday that the new law, which took effect Aug. 16, violates his constitutional rights.
Parker, who practices in Hope, said in the lawsuit that he provides emergency and general family medical services — including family planning — to rural poor in the state and is a registered provider under the Arkansas Medicaid Program. More than 75 percent of his patients are Medicaid beneficiaries, he said.
Parker was joined in the lawsuit by patients who want him to continue being their family primary care doctor, including Tonya Witherspoon, a mother of five and a Medicaid recipient, and Paula Sunderman and her daughter, Sara.
The law seeks a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of the law pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
