Texas Medical Board suspends Houston doctor after repeated arrests

A Houston-area emergency medicine doctor lost his Texas license after state regulators said his repeated arrests and alleged violent behavior posed an immediate risk to the public. The emergency suspension means Derrick Anthony Mitchell cannot continue practicing while the case moves forward, a step that carries direct stakes for patients in The Woodlands, Spring and greater north Harris County.

The Texas Medical Board suspended Mitchell without notice on June 5 after reviewing allegations that he had been arrested multiple times in 2026. Under Texas law, a three-member disciplinary panel can take that step when it finds a doctor’s continued practice would be a continuing and imminent threat to public welfare, and the board must then give notice and set a hearing as soon as practicable.

Mitchell most recently worked at St. Luke’s Health The Woodlands Hospital, but the hospital said he had not worked there since January. U.S. News lists him as affiliated with St. Joseph Medical Center-Houston and St. Luke’s Health The Woodlands Hospital, underscoring a practice footprint that extended across the Houston area.

Court and arrest records cited in the case show at least six arrests this year. One involved a February drug-possession case in Montgomery County tied to 77 grams of THC gummies. Another came in March, when deputies responded to a Spring apartment complex after a family disturbance.

That March incident was especially alarming: Mitchell was alleged to have been intoxicated, made suicidal statements, spit in a deputy’s face and claimed he had given the deputy syphilis. Other incidents described in the records include accusations that he tried to enter an ex-girlfriend’s apartment, vandalized a relative’s car, assaulted and choked one woman, and later punched and slapped another partner.

For patients, the immediate question is whether care already delivered by Mitchell was unsafe. The board’s action does not by itself rewrite past treatment, but it does cut off any ongoing or pending care from him while the suspension remains in place. For families in north Harris County, that means one physician’s local practice has effectively been taken out of service while regulators assess the danger his conduct may have posed.

The board has used the same emergency authority in other recent cases, including a May 27 suspension of Dallas physician Narinder Kumar Monga and a Dec. 20, 2024 suspension of Houston physician Nathan Robert Starke. The speed of those actions shows how quickly the state can move when it believes a doctor’s conduct has crossed from personal trouble into a public-welfare issue.