The Medical Board of California has suspended for the third time this year the license of a Fresno physician who has a history of spouse abuse, drug and alcohol use.

In the Dec. 13 suspension order, a state administrative law judge said the medical board had demonstrated that Dr. Jose Luis Flores was unable to safely practice medicine due to a mental or physical condition.

Flores was not present at the Dec. 13 hearing. Efforts to notify him about the hearing were unsuccessful, the suspension order said.

His license was suspended until a Jan. 2 hearing.

Flores, a pain management doctor who graduated from the UC Davis Medical School, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

He was not present on Sept. 18 when the medical board suspended his license but did not specify reasons. The suspension was immediate but temporary until a regularly scheduled hearing could take place.

Flores testified at the medical board hearing on Oct. 3, the board said. After that hearing, a suspension order was issued on Oct. 9 but was stayed as long as Flores met certain conditions, including that he not drink or use controlled substances, and that he be tested for both. Flores said at the hearing that he was seeking help for his issues, the board said.

But on Oct. 17, the board filed an accusation alleging that Flores was not competent to practice medicine. The board accused Flores of negligence and said he had "used or administered to himself controlled substances, used dangerous drugs, and/or used alcoholic beverages" to impair his ability to practice medicine and to be a danger to himself or others.

The board also accused Flores of prescribing dangerous drugs without appropriately examining patients, failing to maintain adequate and accurate medical records and excessively prescribing controlled substances and dangerous drugs.

In the accusation, the medical board said it was notified that Flores had been arrested in January 2012 in Madera County on suspicion of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse. Three months later, he was arrested by the Fresno County Sheriff's office on the same charge and another charge of false imprisonment. The Madera County District Attorney's office said no charges were filed against Flores. The charges were dismissed in Fresno County, the board said.

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Fresno doctor's license suspended, accused of negligence