Sen. Joey Hensley is accused of prescribing controlled substances to family members.

Hensley allegedly wrote prescriptions for an employee with whom he had a "personal relationship."

A conservative state senator who is also a small-town doctor has been accused by state medical officials of prescribing controlled substances to his family members and an employee with whom he was in a “personal relationship.”

Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, is accused of writing the unethical prescriptions between December 2014 and March 2015.

The Tennessee Department of Health charged Hensley before the Board of Medical Examiners in June, but the case was not made public until now, when charging documents were released in response to a Tennessean public records request.

The charges may affect Hensley's medical license but they are not criminal allegations.

Hensley runs a small doctor’s office, named The Hensley Clinic, in Hohenwald, a town of about 4,000 in Lewis County. Hensley has been licensed to practice medicine in Tennessee since 1984. He doesn’t have any other discipline cases listed in state records.

Generally, it is unethical for doctors to provide medical treatment and prescriptions to loved ones. Hensley has been accused of treating “several immediate family members as patients,” including prescribing them controlled substances.

The charging documents also allege that he “treated a patient, including through prescription of controlled substances, who was also an employee and with whom he was having a personal relationship.”

Hensley faces license discipline, fines

As a result of these charges, Hensley could have his medical license disciplined and be required to pay fines. Hensley can contest the allegations during a hearing of the medical examiner board on Sept. 19.

Hensley did not respond to requests for comment.

The charging documents don’t identify the controlled substances that were prescribed. Neither the family members nor the employee are named. It is not clear if the employee worked for Hensley’s medical practice or at his legislative office.

But some of these questions may have been already answered in court records. According to a 2017 investigation by the Nashville Scene, courtroom testimony from the divorce of a nurse who worked at Hensley's clinic revealed she was having a romantic relationship with the senator and that he was prescribing her opioids.

Elizabeth Hart, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health, would not answer questions about the Hensley case but confirmed the investigation was prompted by the article in the Nashville Scene.

Hensley often introduces legislation related to prescriptions and opioid abuse. In 2012, Hensley unsuccessfully introduced a measure, commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay bill,” that prohibited anything “other than heterosexuality” be to taught in elementary and middle school classrooms.

Brett Kelman is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 615-259-8287 or at brett.kelman@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @brettkelman.