The state’s surgeon general has slapped restrictions on a local doctor’s license due to apparent drug abuse.
Dr. Sheri Ellen Bisby, who has an office on Main Street in Wildwood, is under an emergency restriction of her license, following action this past month by Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo.
An investigation began last year after employees of Neurology Center of Excellence, where she practices, reported that Bisby seemed “overly excited, appeared manic, had slurred speech, and was often visibly distracted while patients waited to be seen in the waiting room for up to three hours at a time,” according to a Dec. 19 report from the Florida Department of Health. Employees also said Bisby was falling asleep at work.
The situation grew worse on Sept. 13 when Neurology Center of Excellence employees transported Bisby to the ER at HCA Florida Hospital Ocala. She was disoriented and was giving “non-sensical responses to questions.” She had a near-empty bottle of the pain medicine Dilaudid in her purse which had been prescribed July 25 and should have lasted until Oct. 25. She also had in her purse an empty bottle of the stimulant phentermine, which had been prescribed to someone else. She claimed the bottle belonged to a patient and she was planning to refill it for the patient. A drug screen showed Bisby was positive for the presence of opiates and amphetamines.
An investigation also revealed that in 2012, Bisby was arrested for driving under the influence in Virginia, where that state’s medical board determined she could no longer practice medicine because she was self-medicating with Adderall.
The Florida Department of Health indicates that Bisby has staff privileges at UF Health-The Villages Hospital and has practiced in Indiana as well as Virginia.
