Jailed Laguna Beach Doctor’s License Suspended : Courts: Physician accused of murder in traffic deaths otherwise could ‘harm the public,’ commissioner rules.

SANTA ANA —  A court commissioner on Friday temporarily suspended the medical license of a Laguna Beach physician charged with murder in a head-on collision that killed a Mission Viejo couple and critically injured their daughter.

Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk ruled that although Dr. Ronald J. Allen is being held in jail without bail, he “may be in a position to harm the public, and that’s certainly something we want to prevent.”

Allen, 31, faces two murder counts in connection with the death of Noreen and Mark Minzey last month. The couple’s 11-year-old daughter was severely injured in the crash.

In documents presented in court Friday, a physician acting for the Medical Board of California determined that immediately following the crash Allen tested positive for “amphetamines, benzodiazepines, opiates and alcohol.”

Palk ordered attorneys for Allen and the medical board to return to court on Aug. 24 for a hearing on whether the restraining order should be made permanent, while the board makes its final administrative finding.

Allen’s civil attorney Kevin E. Monson argued that because Allen was being held without bail, in solitary confinement, under 24-hour observation with telephone calls and visits restricted--virtually incommunicado--there was no need to withdraw his medical license.

The only danger, Monson said, was if Allen were to “sneak somebody into his cell to perform surgery,” which he dismissed as a “physical impossibility.”

But Deputy Atty. Gen. Heidi Weisbaum argued that Allen’s bail status could change at any time, as could his ability to meet with former patients and use the telephone. Until Palk’s ruling, Allen was able to prescribe drugs.

Weisbaum said Allen’s “judgment is impaired, he’s suicidal.”

Although he did not attend that hearing Friday, Allen did appear in another criminal courtroom for his arraignment, which was postponed until Aug. 27.

The July 11 collision took place on Santiago Canyon Road, about sunset, when Allen’s Chevrolet Lumina crossed the center line of the two-lane highway and smashed into the Minzeys’ car, killing them instantly, witnesses and police said. The family was returning from a softball game.

Allen, who specializes in AIDS treatment, was reported depressed by financial and professional problems, as well as the death of his father the day of the collision.

Ten days earlier, Allen had been arrested for driving under the influence of drugs, hit and run and resisting arrest.