MISSOURI MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—101255 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 8/31/2018
Lee’s Summit pediatrician charged after allegedly sexually abusing woman at Boy Scout camp
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. – A longtime Lee’s Summit pediatrician faces
charges for allegedly making sexual advances toward a female Scout
leader at a Boy Scout camp.
Deputies with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office arrested James McEntire in Osceola for sexual misconduct and sexual abuse.
According to court documents, the arrest happened on Aug. 18 when a
female Boy Scout leader accused McEntire of trying to grope her and kiss
her in the front seat of her vehicle. She claimed he made repeated
requests for sexual favors.
McEntire denied the accusations to deputies, who noted that he appeared drunk.
FOX4 spoke with a former employee who worked with McEntire for nearly a year in 2005.
“It is sad when you are a physician out in the public eye and people
know you – it is sad,” said the co-worker who asked to remain
anonymous.
The former employee at the Lee’s Summit practice said these recent allegations did not surprise her.
“Just his demeanor and the way he acted sometimes. He would get in
your space sometimes. He did not so much do it with me, but I saw it and
I did not feel comfortable,” the former employee said.
But the woman said she never had reason to believe McEntire acted inappropriately with his patients.
When FOX4 visited McEntire’s house to ask him about the allegations, a
family friend answered the door and said he did not know where we could
find him.
NORTH CAROLINA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—listed as N/A DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 8/29/2019
Resident doctor faces DWI charge
A resident physician at a local hospital has been suspended from his job after he was charged with driving while impaired Sunday night.
Pranay Ryan Reddy, 29, of 135 Ribet Ave. S.W., Valdese, was charged with driving while impaired at 7:50 p.m. on South Sterling Street in Morganton, according to an arrest report from the Morganton Department of Public Safety.
Reddy is a first-year internal medicine resident at Carolinas HealthCare System Blue Ridge, according to a statement from Anna Wilson, a spokesperson for the hospital.
Reddy’s arrest came after he tried to “beat” a red light in front of an officer while turning onto East Concord Street near a brewery on South Green Street, the report said. Reddy also drifted into oncoming traffic’s lane when making the turn, it said. He was pulled over in the parking lot of a laundromat on South Sterling Street, it said.
At first, Reddy denied having anything to drink, but eventually admitted to drinking two 16-ounce craft beers, the report said.
He submitted to two field breath tests, blowing a 0.15 the first time and a 0.12 the second time, the report said. North Carolina law makes it illegal to drive with a blood alcohol level at over 0.08.
When asked to provide a breath sample at Burke-Catawba District Confinement Facility, he refused, leading to a magistrate granting a search warrant for his blood, which was drawn at the hospital, the report said.
Reddy has been suspended from his job, Wilson said, but further details were not released.
While the arresting officer waited with Reddy for the prescribed time before asking for a third breath sample at Burke-Catawba District Confinement Facility, Reddy said, “I completely did it, this is it. I’ve finally done what you guys thought I was capable of,” the report said. At the hospital, Reddy said, “I made a huge mistake and I should be punished,” the report said.
Reddy also was charged with a stoplight violation, the report said.
He was issued a $1,000 secured bond, the release said. His next court date is set for Dec. 5. (LINK)—8/28/2018
A dentist has a history of DUI arrests. His hair also was a problem, Florida says
A Florida dentist drew an Emergency Restriction Order on his license after a third DUI arrest led to the revelations of broader substance abuse problems, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The order prevents Hillsborough County dentist Jasen Genninger, 31, from practicing dentistry until a Professionals Resource Network-approved evaluator says otherwise. PRN monitors impaired medical professionals licensed by the Department of Health.
After Genninger was diagnosed as having a problem with using amphetamine-type drugs, opioids, alcohol, marijuana, sedatives, the restriction order says, “Dr. Genninger does not possess the physical and mental ability to practice dentistry safely.”
It continued, “Dr. Genninger’s abuse of numerous illicit and controlled substances and alcohol, his multiple arrests for DUI, his attempts to hide his abuse of illicit substances, and his lack of honesty with regard to reporting his use of illicit controlled substances and alcohol, demonstrate his willingness to violate the laws, regulations and standards that govern the practice of dentistry in the State of Florida and demonstrate that he lacks the good judgment necessary to safely practice dentistry.”
Clearwater police arrested Genninger on a DUI charge on Dec. 26, 2017, after two phone calls reported a car sweeping back and forth across a road with a driver who appeared to be falling asleep. Tampa police cuffed Geninger Jan. 10 on a DUI charge after he rear-ended a car, then appeared to officers at the crash, “unsteady on his feet” with “body, leg and arm tremors” with “pin point pupils.”
Both times, Genninger “performed poorly,” the restriction order said, on the field sobriety tests and took the breath alcohol tests, but refused to urinate for a drug test.
He eventually pleaded no contest to a charge of careless driving in the Clearewater case and paid a $166 fine. The Tampa case is still in progress.
These arrests prompted the Department of Health ordered his evaluation by Dr. Lawrence Wilson, a physician specializing in addiction. In May, Genninger admitted to Wilson that he had four drinks before his first DUI arrest, in 2007 as a 19-year-old.
He had his driver’s license suspended for blowing a .136 and .137 blood alcohol content and lost the public hearing appeal. But Orange County court documents show Geninger got his license back upon successfully arguing that the hearing officer made a procedural mistake in not subpoenaing witnesses.
While he admitted using marijuana two weeks before and one week after the Dec. 26 arrest, he said he hadn’t used it in the four months before the May 16 meeting with Wilson.
Other than Adderall during dental school exams, Percocet after a 2008 dental procedure and Vicodin for strep throat in 2012, the emergency order said, “Dr. Genninger denied use of any other illicit substances, abuse of any prescribed medication, or abuse of any non-prescribed mood-altering medications. He denied any prescriptions for psychotherapeutic medications.”
But when he submitted to testing, Genninger’s urine contained mitragynine, which the Department of Health explained is “an opioid receptor agonist with similar mood-altering affects to opioids. Mitragynine is used by individuals looking for an opioid-like high. Mitragynine can, and often is, used to mitigate the symptoms of opioid withdrawal.”
A PEth BloodSpot toxicology screen came back positive, “indicating prolonged alcohol consumption or binge drinking.”
And his hair gave up usage of amphetamine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone and diphenhydramine. Wilson figured over sedation via diphenhydramine was in play during Genninger’s December 2017 arrest and amphetamine intoxication was the active ingredient in the January arrest.
Wilson recommended after Genninger admits his substance abuse issue, he enter treatment.
As of July 26, the restriction order said, “Dr. Genninger has not complied with the recommendations of Dr. Wilson.” (LINK)—8/26/2018
LOUISIANA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—MD.017190 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 8/26/2018
LSU Health official charged with criminal obscenity
A high ranking official at University Health and LSU Health and Sciences Center was charged with criminal obscenity on Wednesday.
Dr. Kevin Mark Sittig, 61, posted bond at $750. He was taken into custody following a task-force bust at Hamel’s Park in Shreveport.
Sittig is accused of approaching an undercover agent, exposing himself, with the intentions of having sex.
According to the arrest affidavit, Sittig denies exposing himself, instead, he was just urinating.
When taken into custody, officers noted he had $615 dollars in cash on his person.
He is the Director of the Regional Burn Center at University Health, Chief Medical Officer at University Health and a member of the Department of Surgery at LSU Health and Sciences Center.
“LSU Health Shreveport does not comment on personnel matters and therefore cannot deny or confirm accusations against Dr. Kevin Sittig”, stated LSU Health Shreveport spokesperson Lisa Babin. (LINK)—8/24/2018
Doctor caught in vice sting returns to work
Dr. Kevin Sittig, a professor at LSU Health in Shreveport who was busted in a vice sting at a city park this past summer, has received a deferred prosecution of his case.
Prosecutors said he has completed all conditions of the program and his attorney said he has returned to work at the medical school.
Sittig, 61, was arrested on obscenity charges this past August at Hamel’s Park. Police said Sittig propositioned an undercover agent and exposed himself.
Sittig was referred to the Caddo District Attorney’s pretrial diversion program, an alternative to traditional prosecution in court. Pretrial diversion is a common resolution of obscenity cases.
Defendants sent to pretrial diversion are required to pay a fee to the district attorney’s office, undergo counseling, submit to substance abuse testing and perform community service. If they don’t get in trouble for up to a year, the charges are dismissed.
Sittig began community service soon after his arrest and performed more than the required amount, said Caddo First Assistant District Attorney Laura Fulco. He has completed all conditions of pretrial diversion, Fulco said.
Sittig’s attorney, Ron Miciotto, said his client has returned to work at the medical school.
“Dr. Sittig has returned to LSU Health Shreveport as a professor in the department of surgery”, LSU Health Shreveport spokeswoman Lisa Babin said. (LINK)—10/26/2018
MINNESOTA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—40343 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 8/26/2018
Warrant: Minnesota doctor saw Prince, prescribed drugs
A Minnesota doctor saw Prince twice in the month before his death, including the day before he died, according to a search warrant obtained by KARE 11.
MINNEAPOLIS - A Minnesota doctor saw Prince twice in the month before his death, including the day before he died, according to a search warrant obtained by KARE 11.
The document also reveals Dr. Michael Schulenberg prescribed the late music icon medication. It states he treated Prince on April 7 and April 20. The prescriptions were filled at a Walgreens.
Investigators interviewed Schulenberg and searched a suburban hospital where he worked.
A spokeswoman for North Memorial Medical Center says Schulenberg was a primary care physician at its Minnetonka clinic but he no longer works for the health care system. A message left Tuesday at the physician’s home wasn’t immediately returned.
On Tuesday evening, authorities were seen at Prince’s Paisley Park complex in Chanhassen.
The search warrant, filed last week in Hennepin County, was supposed to be sealed however, according to a court spokesperson, it got separated from the seal order. “It should have never been released. It was human error,” the spokesperson told KARE 11.
On Tuesday evening, authorities were seen at Prince’s Paisley Park complex in Chanhassen. The Carver County Sheriff’s Office said detectives were “revisiting the scene as a component of a complete investigation.”
Officials at the scene would not respond to questions about what they were doing there. A man wearing a sheriff’s department badge got out of an unmarked vehicles and yelled, “Open the gates!” to the private security company inside. The vehicles then moved through the gates and went around to the door of Paisley Park. A siren briefly sounded, and then the cars disappeared from view.
Prince died April 21 at his Minnesota home. Autopsy results are pending. (LINK)—5/10/2016
Doctor Says he Never Prescribed Opioids to Prince
A Minnesota doctor named in several court documents released Monday said he never directly prescribed opioids to Prince or anyone else with the intent the drugs be given to Prince.
In a statement released to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, Dr. Michael Schulenberg said he’s disclosed all information regarding his care and treatment of Prince to law enforcement authorities, referring to it as “complete cooperation.”
Schulenberg’s name is mentioned on multiple occasions in search warrants released by Carver County Monday as part of its investigation into Prince’s death.
According to one of the warrants, Schulenberg wrote Prince an Oxycodone prescription but put it in Kirk Johnson’s name “for Prince’s privacy.” Johnson is Prince’s longtime associate and bodyguard.
Cody Wiberg, executive director of the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, said all prescriptions must include the intended patient’s name. Not doing so is a violation of federal and state law, Wiberg said.
Another search warrant indicates Johnson “was known to have contacted” Schulenberg “to help Prince with regards to hip pain.”
Investigators said Schulenberg admitted to meeting with Prince twice, on April 7 and April 20, 2016.
In the search warrants, detectives allege Schulenberg admitted to meeting with Prince and prescribing Clonidine, Hydroxyzine Pamoate, and Diazepam. None of those drugs are considered opioids.
On a search warrant served at Paisley Park on April 21, 2016, detectives said they found prescription pill bottles in a suitcase in Prince’s bedroom next to his bed. Detectives identified the drugs as Ondansetron Hydrochloride and “Acetaminophen/oxycodone hydrochloride.” According to the warrant, those medications were prescribed to Johnson on April 7, 2016, by Schulenberg.
Here’s the full statement from Schulenberg’s attorney, Amy Conners:
Dr. Schulenberg has been and remains committed to providing full transparency regarding his practice as it relates to the Prince investigation. Dr. Schulenberg has previously disclosed all information regarding his care and treatment of Prince to his former employer, law enforcement authorities and regulatory authorities in the course of his complete cooperation with the investigation of Prince’s death. There are no restrictions on Dr. Schulenberg’s medical license, and contrary to headlines and media reports published in the wake of today’s unsealing of search warrants relating to the investigation, Dr. Schulenberg never directly prescribed opioids to Prince, nor did he ever prescribe opioids to any other person with the intent that they would be given to Prince.
In his nearly 19 years of practice, Dr. Schulenberg has provided the highest level of care to his many patients and has earned a reputation for being a caring and responsible physician. He has never sought public attention or celebrity, even in the face of the events of the last year, and will continue to make his patients’ health and wellbeing his first priority. (LINK)—4/17/2017
Prince doctor agrees to $30K settlement for drug violations
Beyond the fine, Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg is also required to be monitored under a two-year agreement.
MINNEAPOLIS - A Minnesota doctor accused of illegally prescribing an opioid for Prince a week before the musician died has agreed to pay $30,000 to settle a federal civil claim.
Beyond the fine, Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg is also required to be monitored under a two-year agreement with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration where his prescriptions will be inspected, according to documents detailing the settlement.
Prince died on April 21, 2016, from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. No one has been criminally charged.
But the federal government alleges that Schulenberg violated the Controlled Substances Act when he wrote a prescription in someone else’s name, while knowing it would be used by another individual, on April 14, 2016.
The settlement released Thursday doesn’t name Prince, but search warrants previously released say Schulenberg wrote a prescription for oxycodone in the name of Prince’s bodyguard Kirk Johnson, intending it to go to Prince.
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“Doctors are trusted medical professionals and, in the midst of our opioid crisis, they must be part of the solution,” said U.S. Attorney Greg Brooker in a released statement. “As licensed professionals, doctors are held to a high level of accountability in their prescribing practices, especially when it comes to highly addictive painkillers. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA will not hesitate to take action against healthcare providers who fail to comply with the Controlled Substances Act. We are committed to using every available tool to stem the tide of opioid abuse.”
Search warrants state that Schulenberg, a Minnesota physician, saw Prince twice in the month before his death, including the day before he died. Investigators questioned Schulenberg and searched a hospital where he worked during the investigation but a letter from the U.S. Attorney sent to his lawyer, Amy Conners, dated April 16, 2018 cleared Schulenberg from any criminal charges.
Conners told the AP in a statement that Schulenberg continues to stand by his previous statement that he did not prescribe opiates to any patient with the intention that they be given to Prince.
She insists that after Schulenberg learned of Prince’s addiction, he immediately began working to get him into treatment. (LINK)—4/19/2018
Prince’s family sues doctor, claims death was preventable
MINNEAPOLIS — The family of the late rock star Prince is suing a doctor who prescribed pain pills for him, saying the doctor failed to treat him for opiate addiction and therefore bears responsibility for his death two years ago, their attorney announced Friday.
Prince Rogers Nelson died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl April 15, 2016. Authorities say Dr. Michael Schulenberg admitted prescribing a different opioid to Prince in the days before he died, oxycodone, under his bodyguard’s name to protect the musician’s privacy. Schulenberg has disputed that, although he paid $30,000 to settle a federal civil violation alleging that the drug was prescribed illegally.
The lawsuit filed in Hennepin County District Court this week alleges that Schulenberg and others had “an opportunity and duty during the weeks before Prince’s death to diagnose and treat Prince’s opioid addiction, and to prevent his death. They failed to do so.”
According to the complaint, which was first reported by ABC News.com , Prince’s family seeks unspecified damages in excess of $50,000.
An attorney for Prince’s six surviving siblings said Friday that the new lawsuit will eventually replace a lawsuit they filed in April in Illinois to beat a legal deadline. A week before he died, Prince lost consciousness on a flight home from playing a concert in Atlanta. The plane made an emergency stop in Moline, Illinois, where he was revived at Trinity Medical Center with a drug that reverses opioid overdoses.
“Prince lived in Minnesota all his life and passed away here, so we always thought his family’s lawsuit belonged in Minnesota,” attorney John Goetz said in a statement. He said they now have sufficient legal grounds to pursue the lawsuit in Prince’s home state.
Schulenberg’s attorney, Paul Peterson, said Friday that they believe the lawsuit has no merit.
“We understand this situation has been difficult on everyone close to Mr. Nelson and his fans across the globe,” he said in a statement. “Be that as it may, Dr. Schulenberg stands behind the care that Mr. Nelson received. We intend to defend this case.”
Authorities say Prince probably didn’t know he was taking the dangerous drug fentanyl when he took counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl that looked like a generic version of the painkiller Vicodin. The source of those pills remains unknown and no one has been charged in Prince’s death.
The lawsuit also names North Memorial Health Care, where Schulenberg worked at the time; UnityPoint Health, which operates the Moline hospital; and Walgreens Co., which operates two drug stores where Prince got prescriptions filled. The earlier lawsuit named only UnityPoint and Walgreens.
North Memorial said in a statement that it also stands behind the care Prince received. UnityPoint spokeswoman Vickie Parry said they can’t comment on pending litigation. Walgreens did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
“The Minnesota lawsuit is against all parties whom we now believe share legal responsibility for Prince’s death, but it is possible that we will identify and add other parties as we move forward with the case,” Goetz said. (LINK)—8/24/2018
CONNECTICUT MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—26877 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—Consent Order
Former Stamford Health doctor reprimanded for coming to work impaired
STAMFORD — A former Stamford Health doctor has been fined after she was accused of coming to work impaired.
Dr. Kim Zeh was reprimanded and fined $7,500 this week by the state Medical Examining Board. Zeh was accused of coming to work at a Stamford Health urgent care center in 2017 impaired, due to alcohol or opiates she ingested to alleviate post-surgical pain, according to state records.
Zeh was sent home and did not see any patients that day. State records did not indicate the name of the Stamford urgent care center.
Results of a chemical dependency evaluation were negative and Zeh was found safe to practice medicine, the order said. (LINK)—8/24/2018
VIRGINIA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—0101256886 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—no actions listed as of 8/25/2018
Virginia physician on verge of losing deferred adjudication in elderly exploitation case
Judge offended that doc took family vacation to Italy this summer without having paid full restitution
CLARKSBURG — A 49-year-old Virginia physician was found in violation of her deferred adjudication on Friday for failing to report consistently to Harrison Chief Probation Officer Charles “Chic” Scott.
But Harrison Circuit Judge Chris McCarthy said he wouldn’t rule on disposition until after learning whether Mary Margaret Bland pays the full restitution on or before Sept. 7, as she’s required to do via the agreement. Bland paid $10,000 in restitution at the start of her deferred adjudication, but will have to come up with the rest, $35,000, in that two-week period.
McCarthy said it was “offensive to the court” that Bland spent money on a vacation in Italy this summer before she had paid back the victim in full.
Bland had pleaded guilty to felony financial exploitation of an elder, a charge that would be dismissed if the doctor makes it successfully through the 3-year deferred adjudication.
But in addition to not having paid full restitution, Bland also still is on the hook for 288 hours of community service. She hasn’t provided proof that she’s performed any of it.
Harrison Assistant Prosecutor Brian Shockley successfully showed Bland had violated by failing to report once a month to Scott during several months over the past year.
McCarthy also appeared upset that Bland hadn’t informed Scott ahead of time about the trip to Italy, even though it wasn’t a violation of her probation agreement.
Bland, of Chesapeake, Virginia, removed a total of $35,000 from a nursing home resident’s bank account without her permission and after the defendant no longer was the victim’s power of attorney, State Police Tfc. Roger Glaspell previously alleged. (LINK)—8/24/2018
NEW YORK MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—173139 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 8/25/2018
Thomas Frieden, Former Head of C.D.C., Arrested on Groping Charge
Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, who ran the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for eight years under President Obama, was arrested in Brooklyn on Friday morning and charged with groping a woman in his apartment in October 2017, the police said.
A 55-year-old woman came forward to the police in July and said that Dr. Frieden squeezed her buttocks against her will nine months earlier, on Oct. 20, the police said. She told investigators the incident happened as she was leaving a gathering at Dr. Frieden’s residence on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights.
At 10 a.m. on Friday, Dr. Frieden surrendered to the police at the 77th Precinct in Crown Heights.
He was arraigned Friday afternoon before Justice Michael Yavinsky in Kings County Criminal Court on charges of forcible touching, third-degree sexual abuse and harassment. The judge released Dr. Frieden without bail, ordering him to surrender his passport and to have no contact with the victim. Neither he, nor his lawyer, Laura A. Brevetti, commented as they left the courthouse.
The woman who said she had been groped, an artist in New York City, had been a vocal #MeToo activist before the Oct. 20 incident, creating artwork related to the movement. In April, she wrote an article in an online publication describing her transition from activist to victim, and related the events of that night without naming her abuser.
She said Dr. Frieden groped her while their spouses were not looking, and apologized later, citing personal problems he was having. She said that after worrying for some time about hurting someone by coming forward, she decided to write her article. She could not be reached for comment on Friday.
The New York Times does not name victims of sex crimes without their consent.
Dr. Frieden, 57, stepped down from the C.D.C. in January 2017 and went on to run a health initiative that focuses on heart health and epidemic preparedness. He had served as New York City’s health commissioner from 2002 to 2009 under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
He led the C.D.C. through several worldwide health crises, including outbreaks of the Zika and Ebola viruses, the rise of drug-resistant tuberculosis and the opioid epidemic. As New York’s health commissioner from 2002 to 2009, he oversaw the citywide ban on smoking in bars and other locations and led efforts to eliminate trans fats in restaurants.
In an interview last year, Dr. Frieden spoke of his goals at his new organization, Resolve to Save Lives, a $225-million, five-year initiative, including cutting the population’s sodium and trans fat intake and curbing hypertension.
The organization is based at Vital Strategies, a public health nonprofit in New York. In a statement on Friday, the president of Vital Strategies, José L. Castro, defended Dr. Frieden, who he said informed him in April of a woman who had accused him of inappropriate physical contact. Mr. Castro said that Dr. Frieden had told him that the accuser was a friend who had known him and his family for 30 years.
“I have known and worked closely with Dr. Frieden for nearly 30 years and have seen firsthand that he has the highest ethical standards both personally and professionally,” Mr. Castro said in his statement.
Mr. Castro said the nonprofit had an outside expert conduct an investigation earlier this month to determine whether there are any concerns about Dr. Frieden’s behavior with staff, and that inquiry found “no incidents of workplace harassment.” (LINK)—8/24/2018
VIRGINIA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—0102201203 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—license active, no actions listed as of 8/24/2018
Doctor arrested for raping victims at Virginia clinic
ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. – A Virginia doctor has been arrested and charged with raping victims at his Albemarle County clinic.
Dr. Mark Hormuz Dean, 50, of Keswick, was charged with two felony counts of Rape, two felony counts of Object Sexual Penetration, and one felony count of Forcible Sodomy, according to an Albemarle County Police spokesperson.
Dean was indicted Friday on the five felony charges by an Albemarle-based Central Virginia Multijurisdictional Grand Jury.
“Dean allegedly assaulted victims at the Albemarle Pain Management Associates Clinic,” Albemarle County Police Department Public Information Officer Madeline Curott said. “He is currently being held at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail without bond. The investigation is ongoing.”
The offense dates span from 2011 to 2015, according to Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to call the Albemarle County Police Department at 434-296-5807. (LINK)—1/05/2018
Doctor’s orders: Physician makes bond, put on house arrest
The Pantops-area doctor arrested last Friday on five felonies related to allegedly raping and sexually assaulting his patients will be released from jail on a $50,000 bond.
A mass of friends and family showed in support of Mark Hormuz Dean, the Albemarle Pain Management Associates Clinic physician, and sat shoulder to shoulder in the crowded courtroom.
Several witnesses, including Dean’s father-in-law and a friend who also was a patient, testified about the character of the man who has been indicted on two counts of rape, two counts of object sexual penetration and one count of forcible sodomy.
Since his January 5 arrest, prosecutor Darby Lowe said five additional victims have come forward.
“When he’s not working, he’s constantly with his children,” said Peter Pellechia, the father of Dean’s wife and a retired NYPD homicide investigator. “He takes them and they go fishing.”
Dean is married to Stacy Pellechia Dean, an adjunct instructor at UVA’s Curry School of Education, and the couple lives in an Ednam Forest with two kids who are 15 and 13 years old, according to Pellechia’s testimony. The Deans purchased the house last year for $1.35 million, according to county property records.
Derrick Stone, the director of software development for the UVA Health System, told the judge that Dean often brings his children to Stone’s home for spiritual education classes on the religion they both share, called Baha’i, which teaches the unity of all people and the worth of all religions.
Stone, like the other witnesses who testified, said he was shocked to learn of the allegations against Dean.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “I immediately reached out to see how I could help.”
The doctor was granted a $50,000 bond on the condition that he wears an ankle monitor, doesn’t leave his home and has no contact with his patients or staff.
Though the prosecutor argued that Dean has family in Florida and is considered a flight risk, defense attorney Rhonda Quagliana reminded the judge that several witnesses noted the doctor’s commitment to his family.
“People generally don’t just pick up and abandon a wife and kids,” she said. (LINK)—1/10/2018
WISCONSIN MEDICAL BOARD RECORD (Maiman)—21771 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—license active, no actions listed as of 8/24/2018
WISCONSIN MEDICAL BOARD RECORD (Soliman)—63161-20 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—license active, no actions listed as of 8/24/2018
Medical malpractice suit charges Froedtert doctor with fraud, alleging he lied to cover up botched back surgery
Saying a prominent neurosurgeon botched his back surgery, leaving him unable to walk, and then lied to cover up the error, a Kenosha man is charging the physician with fraud and medical malpractice in a newly filed lawsuit.
The fraud claim, if successful, would allow the patient, Kim Hamburg, 56, to bypass the $750,000 cap on non-economic damages that could be paid in a medical malpractice suit. In a fraud claim, punitive damages — that is an award issued as a punishment — of up to double the amount of compensatory damages can be awarded, said Eric Farnsworth, Hamburg’s attorney.
Farnsworth said the compensatory award could be large because his client, who uses a wheelchair, has “future medical needs in the millions of dollars.”
Several plaintiffs and defense lawyers said the fraud claim was an unusual legal strategy, though they saw merit in the argument.
“I’ve never seen that tried,” Michael End, a veteran medical malpractice lawyer, said of the fraud claim.
“I think they’ll be in a tough legal battle,” End said, explaining that the state statute dealing with medical malpractice does not include a fraud claim.
“I can’t imagine the Medical College would just sit back and let fraud be claimed without challenging it,” End said. “Some poor trial judge will have to wade through all of that and come up with a decision.”
The Medical College of Wisconsin, Froedtert Hospital, surgeons Dennis Maiman and Hesham Soliman and the state’s insurance fund for physicians are defendants in the suit filed in Kenosha County last week. The state fund has a surplus of more than $1 billion, meaning that is the amount that would be left over if every actual and anticipated malpractice claim was paid.
Only Maiman is charged with fraud in the civil action.
Botched back surgery
According to the lawsuit, in 2015 Hamburg saw Maiman, a respected neurosurgeon who was a professor at the college and chairman of Froedtert’s neurosurgery department. Maiman’s Medical College web page states he is a professor and “was Chairman of Neurosurgery from 2009-2015, stepping down to allow a research focus.”
Hamburg, a factory worker, had hurt his back and an MRI taken at United Hospital in Kenosha found an intradural lesion on his lower back, the suit states. Maiman “told Hamburg he would be in a wheelchair if the mass was not immediately removed,” the suit states.
Hamburg charged that Maiman misread the MRI and thought the mass was on a different spot on the spine that it actually was. Maiman and Soliman operated on the T12 level of the spine, instead of the L1 level, which is where the lesion was actually seen on the MRI, the suit says. Both vertebrae are on the middle to lower back.
Neither Maiman nor Soliman responded to a request for comment and representatives of the college and Froedtert declined to comment on the suit or to make any official available for an interview. Maiman is the co-author of the book “Surgery of the Lumbar Spine” and the Medical College web page notes he has contributed 28 chapters to medical books and 190 peer-reviewed journals.
‘This horrendous result’
During the 2015 surgery at Froedtert, the suit says, the physicians dissected "Hamburg’s healthy spinal tissue, taking multiple biopsies.” The suit alleges that “postoperative imaging revealed Maiman and Soliman had operated at the wrong level and had not touched the original mass.”
“Each one of these mistakes built on the others to have this horrendous result,” Farnsworth said.
The allegations that the surgery was botched make up the heart of the malpractice claim against the medical providers. The events that followed surgery are the basis of the fraud claim against Maiman.
“Not telling him about operating on the wrong level (of the spine), scaring him with the fear of cancer,” Farnsworth said. “That resulted in further trauma caused by the doctor.”
The “concealment and misrepresentations” were “part of Maiman’s plan or device to avoid liability,” Farnsworth wrote in the suit.
Hamburg charges that Maiman “continued to conceal the fact that they operated at the wrong level” and said they needed to operate on him again to get the “rest of the mass.” Maiman told Hamburg that the mass was likely malignant, the suit says.
“Hamburg interpreted Maiman’s statements to mean he had a cancerous tumor and an emergency situation,” the suit says.
Eight days after the August 2015 surgery, Hamburg was told by a second Froedtert physician “that the tissue removed was not a tumor or mass, but healthy spinal cord tissue,” the suit says, adding Hamburg quickly canceled his second surgery.
Shortly afterward he was discharged from Froedtert “in a wheelchair with weakness and severe pain” in his legs, the suit says.
“It’s really ironic in a horrific way,” Farnsworth said, noting his client’s claim that Maiman warned he would end up in a wheelchair if he didn’t have the surgery.
Farnsworth said he successfully brought a fraud claim in a medical malpractice case he filed in Waukesha County in 2005.
In that case, the suit charged that the physician, David Haskell, made an error during a spine surgery but failed to disclose the mistake to the patient and suggested a second surgery, Farnsworth said.
“Dr. Haskell took off his white coat and started taking steps in furtherance of a scheme to cover himself,” Farnsworth said, describing the claims in the lawsuit.
After the circuit court allowed the fraud claim to remain in the suit, the case was settled for an undisclosed amount, Farnsworth said.
The Hamburg suit is the second controversy involving Maiman, Froedtert and the Medical College in recent years.
Three years ago the college paid $840,000 to settle a whistleblower suit involving bills for services provided by Maiman and a second physician, according to a statement by the Chicago law firms that initially filed the suit. The firms represented a third physician and the federal government later became the lead plaintiff in the case. The government often takes over whistleblower suits when it feels the civil case has merit and the government has been injured.
The whistleblower suit charged that the college submitted false claims to Medicare in neurosurgery cases. Medicare will pay for teaching physicians services only if the doctors are present for key parts of the surgery and remain available if needed, the attorney’s statement explained.
But the suit charged that some neurosurgeons, including Maiman, “regularly scheduled simultaneous surgeries to be performed by one individual teaching physician without arranging for a back-up teaching physician.”
The suit alleged this was done “for the plainly improper purpose of billing Medicare for more surgeries than the law would otherwise permit them to perform.”
A spokesperson for the Medical College said in an email that the college felt it was in its “best interest to settle the case” in 2015 and that the settlement “did not constitute an admission of liability.”
Seven defendants were named in the suit, including Froedtert and Maiman.
The Hamburg suit comes as fewer medical malpractice claims are filed in Wisconsin, largely because of the difficulty of winning the cases in court, where nine in 10 cases are won by the medical providers. In addition, the state’s cap on non-economic damages limits the potential payday to lawyers who often spend well over $100,000 to bring a medical malpractice suit.
Plaintiff attorneys in medical malpractice cases generally pay the upfront costs of a case and receive a percentage of the winnings. They are not paid if they lose the case.
The damages cap was upheld by the state Supreme Court in June in a case involving a Milwaukee woman who lost all four of her limbs to medical malpractice. The cap does not impact economic damages, that is the money meant to cover past and future medical and care expenses. (LINK)—8/22/2018
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