(Image courtesy of Metro Creative)

MARQUETTE — A Marquette area doctor who was recently arrested and charged with abusing his son was placed on probation last November by the board that oversees his license to practice medicine.

The Michigan Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery placed Dr. Colin Irish on 18 months probation effective Nov. 2 after he was found to have violated the Public Health Code in the course of his practice as a physician.

The board also issued Irish a $2,500 fine.

Irish was investigated in 2022 by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. An investigator with the department found that Irish failed to document his rationale for prescribing controlled substances to some patients, failing to refer some patients to specialists for pain treatment, failing to refer some patients to addiction specialists,failing to monitor patients with urine drug screens and failing to review the Michigan Automated Prescription System prior to issuing controlled substance prescriptions, which is a violation of state law.

In October, Irish and the Michigan Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery’s Disciplinary Subcommittee stipulated to enter a consent order. As per the stipulation, Irish did not admit to the claims against him, but agreed the Disciplinary Subcommittee could enter an order treating the allegations as true.

Irish was arrested Tuesday, along with his wife, Carrie Irish, for allegedly abusing their 10-year-old son.

Police say the boy, who has special needs, was locked in an unheated closet at the residence where he slept on a linoleum floor wearing only his underwear and without a blanket, pillow or mattress.

The closet contained no windows, and the closet walls were modified with plastic sheet panels. According to the allegations, the boy defecated and urinated multiple times on the closet floor, and was forced to clean up the mess, leaving a strong odor of cleaning solution in the air.

The child was placed in foster care along with his two younger brothers, ages 6 and 8.

Irish had no prior disciplinary history with the board since he first obtained a Michigan medical license in 2020.