State refuses to renew doctor's drug license

SALEM — The Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing has refused to renew the license to prescribe drugs of a Salem doctor accused of trading prescription drugs for sexual favors.

About 10 days after he was arrested during a hotel sex-sting operation, Jan. 26, Dr. Max Cannon submitted an application for the renewal of his license to prescribe drugs. The 49-year-old doctor has bailed out of jail with $7,500 but is facing a felony charge in the 4th District Court of possession with intent to distribute.

The Department of Commerce responded to his request by quickly assembling a three-member committee Wednesday to review his renewal in an emergency order. After review, they denied his request, calling him "an immediate and significant danger to the public."

"Dr. Cannon has demonstrated a severe departure from the standard of care, competency and skill that a physician and surgeon is required to maintain," the eight-page document stated.

The panel issued the statement after reviewing evidence and statements from police and three female witnesses who detailed their relationship with Cannon.

The division suggested that Cannon had "seduced" his patients after treating them in various surgeries, then ensued sexual relationships.

The illegal distribution allegations go back as far as 2000 when one woman said after a short relationship he simply paid for sexual favors.

Three years after seeing a woman for hernia surgery, the division said Cannon told her that "she could pay him for an exam with a (sexual favor)."

A former woman patient assisted police in gathering evidence for an arrest. The woman acted as an informant by inviting him to a hotel, where she allegedly said she would swap sexual favors for OxyContin.

Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo and Mountain View Hospital in Payson, where Cannon had been a general physician with privileges, have suspended any rights pending the outcome of the investigation, hospital officials told the Deseret Morning News.

Cannon's next hearing will be Feb. 29 at 8:30 a.m. in American Fork's 4th District Court.

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E-mail: jhancock@desnews.com