On February 17, 2020 Dr. Thomas Kline surrendered his DEA license voluntarily after the North Carolina Medical Board stated “They were coming to take his license”, failing to advise him he had a choice during their “investigation” to actually surrender his license voluntarily or wait until the investigation was complete. They won by lack of information and by utilizing fear tactics. “Coming to take your License” does not make one perceive there is a choice. 

It was later determined that Dr. Kline did NOT have to surrender his DEA license, although his 34 palliative care patients were placed in immediate danger due to forced tapering; an action the FDA stated should not be done under any circumstances due to harm on April 9, 2019. Article found here:

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-identifies-harm-reported-sudden-discontinuation-opioid-pain-medicines-and-requires-label-changes

Patient Source: https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2020/2/22/34-pain-patients-left-in-limbo-by-kline-investigation?rq=kline

Though the NC Medical Board would not comment on the investigation, they did make this comment to Pain News Network, a website which educates the public and also focuses on all actions that deal with the medical community and pain patients. 

The following statement was made to the editor of the website regarding Dr. Kline.

“At this point there has been no public action taken, so I’m not able to confirm or deny what may have occurred with this licensee,” said Jean Brinkley, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Medical Board. “Investigations are confidential under North Carolina law, so until there’s been an action that’s made public, we can’t discuss it.” The medical board has no public record of any complaint or disciplinary action against Kline. “As of now, Dr. Kline has an active medical license with no specific restrictions from the board,” Brinkley told PNN. Source here: https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2020/2/19/dr-thomas-kline-being-investigated-by-north-carolina-medical-board?rq=kline

On March 10, 2020, it became aware to the public Dr. Kline had lost his license because a woman named Julie Roy, who also goes by another name, from New York, who admitted she was the person who filed the complaint on Dr. Kline and tagged the NC Medical Board based on a tweet concerning the percentage of people who become addicted to pain medication; one she disagrees with solely because her son lost his life due to heroin addiction.

Source: https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2020/3/10/tweet-led-to-dr-kline-losing-his-dea-license?rq=kline

What kind of justice is this? Now, you may have someone's license taken away who has a doctorate over a difference of opinion on social media, instead of hard evidence? Dr. Kline still has yet to have his license returned and the board is not returning calls. The patients were all palliative care patients, exempt by the CDC & FDA statutes yet this still happened. 

Dr. Kline's patients are still suffering and outraged this is continuing. We ask that you sign this petition to request the return of Dr. Thomas Kline's DEA license immediately based on an investigation which revolves only around opinion; not facts. He deserves to have his name cleared and his patients deserve to have him back.

https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2020/2/25/fighting-injustice-in-north-carolina?rq=kline

As you can see, it takes a special doctor and person to obtain all the respect and loves like the above article shows. Please help us help him get his license back, which was taken away without any proof of breaking any mandated laws. Social media should not be the judge and jury for anyone, let alone a doctor such as Thomas F. Kline.

We insist his DEA license be returned immediately.

Thank you.