Doctor Sued for Malpractice Gives up License
On behalf of Brown & Crouppen, P.C. posted in Medical Malpractice on Sunday, October 28, 2012
If you ask most people in Missouri, they will tell you that going to the hospital can be a terrifying experience. This is generally perpetuated by stories we see in the news about people dying because of negligent hospital staff or surgeries that have gone horribly wrong.
We think that these things can never happen to us; at least that’s what people in Oregon thought earlier this month. But after a 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal identified one of their own surgeons as having the highest rate of multiple spinal-fusion operations, people began to worry.
According to reports, the 42-year-old doctor had been sued by 34 other patients in various medical malpractice suits with nearly a half-dozen more pending. Many of his patients alleged that he had performed unnecessary surgeries during the course of their stay at the hospital. Despite obvious red flags, the hospital continued to keep the doctor on staff stating that he was bringing in “lucrative business” for the hospital.
In an order issued by the state’s medical board, the surgeon was ordered to permanently surrender his state medical license, citing him for “unprofessional or dishonorable conduct” and “repeated negligence in the practice of medicine.” Though the doctor denied the allegations, he agreed to give up his license.
It’s unclear at this time whether he holds a medical license in other states or has already applied somewhere else. As frightening as this may sound, the Oregon Medical Board’s action does place the doctor into a federal database where medical boards and hospitals nationwide may inquire about a physician’s disciplinary record. It is the general hope now that this doesn’t happen to any more innocent patients in the future.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, “Doctor in Repeat-Surgery Probe Gives up License,” John Carreyrou and Tom McGinty, Oct. 11, 2012