How many reading this know that California has a Medical Board whose sole
purpose is to regulate doctors in order to keep patients safe? Did you know that
you can report a complaint about a doctor to the Medical Board? Our organization
comes across people all the time who had no idea they could file a complaint
against a doctor. Far too many people, unfortunately, put doctors on pedestals and
think they can do no wrong, and even more believe that medical errors will never
happen to them or a loved one. Think again, it’s happened to both of us, three
times for Eric Andrist. More on that later.
Now, how many believe that if you did report a bad doctor to the Medical Board,
they would effectively handle the complaint, and protect consumers from further
harm?
It is estimated that over 40,000 patients die in California alone each and every year, from preventable medical errors, making it the third leading cause of death behind cancer and heart disease. We’re not talking about accidents, we’re talking about errors that absolutely could have been avoided.
Here’s another stat for you: The Medical Board of California takes in nearly 11,000
complaints every year, but only about 4%* of them end up with any discipline.
[*From the 2017-2018 Annual Report of the Medical Board of California. If you add up the “Administrative Outcomes” in the far right column, it comes to 406, which is about 3.7% of the 10,888 complaints they took in, in the top graphic.]
So what’s going on with the other 96%? That’s what we’d like to know, too, but the Board is protected by laws that allow them to hide their actions from the public. The Board will post disciplines against doctors — but not complaints. Every 4 years, through the Sunset Review the legislature pretends to care about making the Board better and fixing any problems, but there is little real accountability going on. We sent the legislature a 200+ page report detailing problems with the Medical Board, and not one legislator contacted us and thanked us or bothered to ask any questions, they just extended the Board for another 4 years despite what we told them.
IF THE MEDICAL BOARD MOVED ANY SLOWER, THEY’D GO IN REVERSE.
What is even more surprising is that the Medical Board takes on average, 2 1⁄2 to 3
years to complete a full investigation of a doctor and levy a discipline. We’ve even
unearthed investigations that took between 4 and 6 years.
20-year-old Alex Smick of Downey was overdosed to death after he checked himself into a hospital after taking too many pain meds for sports injury. Dr. Daniel Headrick gave him a lethal cocktail of medications and then instructed the staff to NOT check on him while he was sleeping. The next morning he was found face down in his bed in a pile of vomit, dead. It had been so long since anyone had checked on him that he was already in rigor mortis. Alex died on February 23, 2012. His family filed a Medical Board complaint against Dr. Headrick on November 6, 2013. The Board couldn’t be bothered interviewing the doctor until October of 2015 almost two full years after the complaint was filed. It took another 8 months for it to be referred to the Attorney General’s office and then another 4 months until an Accusation was filed against the doctor. Then, right before Christmas of 2017, 5 1⁄2 years after Alex’s death, the family received the Medical Board’s decision in the death of their son. Dr. Daniel Hearick was given a “Public Reprimand,” a disciplinary action that is only intended for the most minor of violations, certainly not a death. In total, it took 4 years and 16 days (or 1477 days) for the Medical Board to process the Smick’s complaint. Watch Alex’s parents as they hold the Medical Board accountable at one of their quarterly meetings. Dr. Headrick later went on a public television show, bragging about his lenient discipline from the Board and putting the blame on everyone but himself.
Alex Smick, left, Dr. Daniel Headrick, right. Photo sources: Tammy Smick and “Inside OC with Rick Reiff”
Some of the complaints that are under review at this moment are from 2013; the
Medical Board does not move quickly to resolve complaints even when they
involve the death of a patient.
96% DISCIPLINARY FAIL RATE
Ponder this. The Medical Board derives the bulk of its working capital from the
license fees of the very doctors that they also have to discipline. How is that not an
automatic conflict of interest? If they revoke too many licenses, they’d lose those
license fees. The Board complains all the time about not having enough money to
pay staff and investigators (even with a budget over $60 million) and that’s with
closing 96% of the consumer complaints. If even 50% of those closed complaints
are legitimate, how could they possibly investigate them, when they apparently
don’t even have enough money to investigate the 4% they do end up disciplining?
On January 22, 1993, the Los Angeles Times published an article detailing how rank and file employees of the Medical Board blew the whistle on their superiors who had been literally throwing consumer complaints in the trash in order to clear their desks of them.
“Among the investigation’s findings was the disclosure that
hundreds of Medical Board cases had been improperly
dismissed-and in many instances destroyed-in an apparent
attempt to reduce a backlog that had prompted criticism from the
Legislature. [Whistleblowers] said a three-person management
team marched into several key offices in 1990 and began going
through files. They said certain files were tagged, indicating that
they should be closed and in some cases destroyed. Those that
were targeted, they said, seemed to be the cases involving
doctors free from previous complaints or patients who had not
followed up to see if the board had pursued their complaints. “You
would see a stack of files two feet high on a supervisor’s desk one
day and by the next hardly any would be left,” recalled one
investigator. [Los Angeles Times, January 22, 1993]
It’s hard to not wonder whether this is still happening today.
Annette Ramirez of South Bay was harmed by Dr. James Scharffenberger who sliced her bowel after a routine surgery. For more than 36 hours nurses failed to report her abnormal vital signs and her doctor failed to adequately follow up to check her condition after surgery. An infection rapidly spread through her system causing her to go into septic shock. Gangrene spread to her arms and legs, which led to the amputation of her arms and legs, as well as the excision of flesh from multiple areas of her body.
Annette filed a complaint with the Medical Board only to have them close it down
within months without any discipline for the doctor that left her in this condition.
And lest you think Annette’s story is an exception, we have gathered a number of egregious stories of patients being harmed and the Medical Board closing their complaints, including 2 others with patients who had their arms and legs amputated: Robert Downey, Mario Guzman, Daniela Zelig, Morgan Westhoff, Cali Andrist, Eric Andrist.
DEALS, DEALS AND MORE DEALS!
In April of 2016, the son of TV Judge Glenda Hatchett, Charles Johnson and his wife Kyira, checked into Cedars Sinai to have a baby by repeat elective cesarean delivery in the early afternoon. The procedure was performed by Dr. Arjang Naim.
Not long after their son Langston was born, blood-tinged urine was seen in Kyira’s catheter. Six hours later, Dr. Naim was notified about a concern for internal bleeding. A massive transfusion was initiated and she was taken to the operating room shortly before midnight. During that surgery, Kyira was found to have 3 liters (or about 4⁄5 of a gallon) of blood in her abdomen. Kyira’s heart stopped on the operating table at 1:15 AM; she was declared dead at 2:20 AM, not being able to survive the massive blood loss. Charles Johnson filed a complaint with the Medical Board and in October of 2018, the Board gave Dr. Naim just 4 years of probation, an amount less than their own minimum guidelines recommend. At our request, Charles flew to San Diego for the Medical Board’s quarterly meeting shortly after the decision was announced, and confronted them about it. His passionate speech can be viewed HERE.
PERVERTED DOCTORS IN THE NEWS
We’ve been working with several news outlets on reports about local area doctors. This past November, 10News in San Diego ran a story on more than 150 area doctors who were disciplined for sexual abuse and other serious violations. In December NBC-LA chronicled the story of Sarah Al-Habib and how she had been sexually assaulted by her doctor, Dr. Zaher Azzawi of Rancho Cucamonga. In February, NBC told the story of three L.A.-area doctors, all of whom are on the Sex Offender Registry, but are still practicing medicine, and how the Medical Board of California makes no effort whatsoever to warn patients about them. Here’s 32 doctors in the state of California who appear on the Sex Offender Registry (most of them are no longer practicing.)
Recently, we discovered the case of a Dr. Robert Stephens, an anesthesiologist in San Diego. Several nurses reported witnessing him sexually assaulting a number of unconscious patients. The case was reported to the California Department of Public Health who in turn should have reported it to the Medical Board of California. We have been unable to find any evidence that they did. The Medical Board verified that he is under investigation, but they refuse to warn the people of this state about him, insisting that the law does not require them to. Oddly, though, their sister agency, the Contractors State License Board does warn consumers when one of their contractors has had a complaint filed against them. Apparently, our legislators think consumers should know about a bad bathroom contractor, but not about a doctor that could sexually assault them the next time they’re in the hospital, unconscious.
To show how bad the laws are that govern the Medical Board, take a look at the case of Dr. Ryszard Chetkowski, who runs a fertility clinic in Berkeley. Chetkowski was accused by at least six women of sexual misconduct. Even after the Medical Board detailed the horrific sexual assaults in seven causes for discipline in an accusation, the Board still only gave him a Public Reprimand. By law, Public Reprimand’s disappear from the Board’s website after 10 years, unlike other documents which remain visible indefinitely. So, if you look up Chetkowski on the Board’s website now, he has a completely clean record; there’s not one mention of the sexual assaults anywhere. It begs the question, were favors done for this doctor so that he was purposely given a discipline that would eventually disappear, even with the severity of the charges? Is no act heinous enough that it can’t be bartered away?
By not acting quickly enough (or at all), the Medical Board puts consumers in danger. A great example of this is the case of Dr. Michael Popkin of Granada Hills. According to reports, the Medical Board knew about sexual assault complaints against Popkin as far back as 2001. An accusation was filed against him in November of 2003, but contained no charges of sexual misconduct. It became clear that he had continued to sexually assault patients when he was arrested in 2016. The court issued a court order preventing him from treating female patients in October of 2017 and the Medical Board finally revoked his license in April of 2018, some SEVENTEEN YEARS after first receiving sexual assault complaints about him. Because of the Board’s inaction, more people were harmed.
Dr. Michael Popkin’s mugshot. Photo source: LAPD.
ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY
When we first started doing our in-depth investigation of the Medical Board, one of the first cases we looked into was that of Dr. Hari Reddy, a doctor who had his license revoked over the sexual assault of 4 patients, one of which was a 15-year-old girl. He tried once to petition the Board to get his license back and they denied the request. He applied one more time in 2010. This was shortly before Governor Jerry Brown appointed Reddy’s friend, classmate and co-worker, Dr. Dev GnanaDev to the Medical Board. Long story short (and you can read more about it HERE), on GnanaDev’s very first disciplinary panel case, they voted to give Reddy his license back. Not long after this occurred, Reddy’s brother-in-law, another Reddy by the name of Prem Reddy (CEO of the always-in-trouble Prime Healthcare), donated over $40 million to GnanaDev’s new medical school in the Inland Empire, and now serves as the school’s chairman of the board.
Dr. Hari Reddy, left. Photo source Vimeo. Dr. Dev GnanaDev, middle. Photo source calmedu.org. Dr. Prem Reddy, right. Photo source calmedu.org
Recently, the Medical Board and the Attorney General’s Office had to fess up to one of their own medical “experts” (Dr. Aaron Stone) behaving in such a way that the accusation against Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Dr. Kenneth Hughes, had to be dismissed. Hughes’ attorney basically called the expert a liar and corrupt. So, while the accusation very well could have had legitimate concerns in it, the Board was forced to dismiss the action and now, Hughes’ profile on their website provides no information whatsoever to the public in regard to anything a patient might need to be concerned about. You can watch key portions of the hearing exposing the “corrupt expert” HERE. Hughes has at least two pending court cases in the Los Angeles Superior Court, but you won’t find that information on the Medical Board’s website, either.
In 2014, Eric Andrist, the co-author of this article, was diagnosed with 4 hernias. He went to see a surgeon, (Dr. Kulmeet Sandhu) in 2015 and laparoscopic surgery was performed that fall. A few months later, all of his symptoms returned and he went back to her in 2016. She ran more tests and blamed the reoccurrence on his “bad genes.” He went back in for a re-do surgery in the fall of 2016. A few months later, all of his symptoms returned once again and he again went back to see the surgeon. She ran more tests and found that the hernia was even worse than when he had started out. She was prepared to take him in for a third surgery, but now, not trusting that she knew what she was doing, he went to get a second opinion. The new surgeon ran a battery of tests and told him he was in terrible condition and they needed to do surgery right away, which took place in the fall of 2017. During the surgery, the new surgeon found that Dr. Sandhu had actually sewn his stomach to itself (in a procedure called a Full Nissen Fundoplication), instead of to the esophagus, rendering it useless. To top it all off, the hospital sent him home after the surgery without checking the surgery site. When he got home, he discovered that his eight-inch incision had popped open and he could see into his abdomen. He filed complaints with both the Medical Board (on Sandhu) and the Department of Public Health (on Glendale Adventist Hospital). Both complaints were closed without investigation.
There appears to be a price to pay when someone tries to hold the government
accountable.
We started our little nonprofit, The Patient Safety League, so that we can officially try to help victims of medical errors, warn the public about doctors with all degrees of disciplinary actions, and monitor state agencies like the Medical Board of California and the Department of Public Health, both of which are not properly protecting us. We started our website due to the lack of information on the Medical Board’s website. Consumers can check our website HERE. Right now we’re existing hand to mouth, and it often costs us a lot of money from our own pockets to do our job. Ironically, a doctor recently reached out and helped us come up with the money we needed to get us to the upcoming Medical Board meeting in northern California next month. Tax-deductible donations can be made to the Patient Safety League on their website.
This article was originally published in a shorter format on CityWatchLA. Special thanks to them for all the work they do helping people stay informed.
UPDATE, JAN. 22, 1:48 P.M.: We now know how the parents of the late Alex Smick feel about the “discipline” the Medical Board of California imposed on Dr. Daniel Joseph Headrick for the 22-year-old’s overdose death while in the physician’s care.
The Smicks hate it. They hate that it took four years for the board to come to a decision, and they hate the decision, which is that Headrick is receiving nothing more serious than a public reprimand.
You can watch the Smicks tell the board exactly how they feel here:
ORIGINAL POST, JAN. 15, 5:54 A.M.: In the recent documentary The Long Way Back: The Story of Todd “Z-Man” Zalkins, Dr. Daniel Joseph Headrick says on screen it is amazing the title character survived years of drug abuse, which only became worse after Z-Man’s close friend Bradley Nowell of Sublime died from an overdose.
Headrick, who operates Tres Vistas Recovery in San Juan Capistrano, has gone on to guest on Zalkins’ podcast, and both appeared together on a radio program dedicated to kicking substance abuse.
However, the same Dr. Headrick is being disciplined by the state medical board for the overdose death of a young man who was under the physician’s care. That is, finally being disciplined, and not nearly harshly enough, according to the family of 22-year-old Alex Smick, who died on Feb. 23, 2012. Tim and Tami Smick went on to become statewide activists for medical malpractice victims and their families.
A public reprimand over Headrick’s treatment of Alex Smick becomes effective Thursday, according to the Medical Board of California. Evidence shows the doctor’s medical license should be subject to probation or revocation proceedings, according to Eric Andrist, whose 4patientsafety.org website tracks medical malfeasance cases up and down the state.
“The medical board is not doing their job to protect us,” says Andrist, whose website includes the opinions of three medical experts highly critical of Headrick’s contributions to Smick’s death. Andrist says that case and others are prompting his group to soon expose numerous misdeeds by the Medical Board of California when it comes to disciplining doctors.
Click here for the medical board’s discipline of Headrick, who before operating Tres Vistas Recovery was the lone physician and CEO at Mission Pacific Coast Recovery Center at Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach. Based on the signatures Headrick and his Irvine attorney Raymond J. McMahon put on an acceptance letter from the medical board on Dec. 1 and Dec. 4 respectively, they agree with the findings of the public reprimand. That includes this of the doctor:
“You failed to write a comprehensible order for the level of overnight monitoring for a patient, failed to ensure that a nurse would provide that level of overnight monitoring and failed to ensure that the nurse documented the reasons for administering as needed (PRN) medications, that you ordered for the patient, as more fully described in the Accusation.”
According to Smick’s mother, Alex injured himself skateboarding at age 18, and his primary care physician suggested he go to a pain management specialist in Long Beach. That led to back injections and prescriptions of Vicodin, Oxycontin and even morphine. But he did not get better, Tami Smick says, he became an addict.
“He admitted to using opiates, benzodiazepines, sedatives, cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines, hallucinogens and tobacco,” say state medical board investigators, who add that CURES, California’s drug prescription monitoring system, shows that Alex Smick got scripts for Ativan, a sedative and anti-anxiety agent used to control seizures, and Dalmane, which treats insomnia, within a month of his Feb. 23, 2012, death.
“He just kept getting pain medications,” his mother said 11 months after her son’s death. “Alex knew he had a problem.”
According to medical board investigators, he was treated as an outpatient by a pain specialist on Feb. 15, 2012, when he received scripts for MS Contin, which is time-released morphine, and the highly addictive pain reliever hydrocodone. The following day, Smick overdosed on multiple medications, including MS Contin and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, and was admitted to Downey Regional Medical Center near his parent’s home. He was then transferred to Pacific Hospital in Long Beach, where a new doctor prescribed more Xanax.
Somewhere along the way, Smick was diagnosed with major depression disorder with postpartum onset, which is actually a female condition, notes his mother, who partly blames that mistake for the additional problems and malpractice her son would face. She says that after his Feb. 22, 2012, discharge from the Long Beach hospital, he on his own arranged to have an ambulance take him to Mission Pacific Coast Recovery Center.
He was interviewed by the admitting nurse there at 5 p.m. and said, “I did not try to kill myself. I was in so much pain that I took too many pills,” according to the medical board. Smick went on to tell of having overdosed on 10 tablets of 2mg Xanax and 40 tablets of MS Contin. He said he used Xanax 3mg tabs for two years. The nurse logged the drugs he said he’d taken, noted his mood was neutral and filed out a checklist of his mental health status dimensions that showed they were unremarkable, according to medical board investigators, who add his vital signs were in normal ranges, and he was allowed to keep his regular clothes and luggage, with no notation from the nurse that either was searched.
Headrick diagnosed the patient as being dependent on opiates, cannabis and benzos with major depression and suicidal ideation. Smick was also diagnosed with Axis III disorders of lumbar disc disease, a T12 compression fracture and mild leukocytosis (slightly elevated white blood cell count). His EKG, urinalysis and metabolic panel all came back normal, and while he tested positive for opiates and cannabis, he surprisingly came up negative for benzos. His vital signs were taken at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Feb. 22, according to the center’s records, which show he received medications to relieve his back pain.
However, according to medical board investigators, Headrick’s written notes from that day did not include any laboratory test results, and “leukocytosis” seemed to have been added later using a different pen. In a note dictated after Smick’s death early the following morning, Headrick said the patient had a positive toxicology screen for cannabinoids and opiates, and at 5:30 p.m.—hours after the young man’s death—the doctor wrote him orders for inpatient detoxification, inpatient rehabilitation and the taking of vital signs with a note that Headrick was to be notified about them, according to the probe.
“Detoxification medications” were also ordered—again, after the patient’s death—for moderate withdrawal symptoms, some to start “now,” report board investigators, who added there were also orders for “as needed” medications for nausea and vomiting and that scripts were written for the anti-convulsion medication Lyrica, the anti-depressants Elavil and Zoloft, a Lidoderm patch, the pain medication Toradol, the muscle relaxer Robaxin, Catapress for hypertension/high blood pressure and the anti-anxiety drug Librium. Another EKG and laboratory tests—including a complete blood count, metabolic panel, urine drug screen and breath test—were requested.
The record shows Smick got Lyrica at 5 and 10 p.m.; Librium at 5 p.m.; the anti-seizure Phenbarbital at 9 p.m., anti-anxiety Sertraline at 9 p.m.; and the pain reliever Buprenorphine at 11 p.m. It also shows Smick was able to go to sleep without distress.
The bottom of the page on his medical records has the time written as 3:30 (a.m., presumably) and hours slept as “8” and the notation “slept through the night,” according to investgiators, who tellingly add: “In light of the fact that A.S. was discovered dead at 6:20 a.m., it is difficult to see how the record could be accurate. Further troubling is the fact that Lyrica, Robaxin, Clonidine and Librium were noted as having been administered at 7 a.m. on Feb. 23, 2012, after A.S. was found dead.”
Nurses said they discovered Smick lying “supine” (face up) on his bed with rigor mortis at 6:20 that morning. However, the dictated record of a doctor, who came from the Emergency Department of Mission Hospital to assist in resuscitation efforts, observed the deceased had “obvious lividity with pooling of the blood in the anterior aspect of the body,” adding that, “The sheets were wet indicated [sic] that there was fluid there, which may have been either vomitus from which he aspirated and the fluid was noted on his face and eyes.”
This evidence indicates a Smick suffered a seizure, according to the state board, which also cites Orange County Sheriff-Coroner records that suggest there was evidence the patient had been turned over from the prone to the supine position. The coroner found no evidence of trauma or extra pills in the room, saying the cause of death was “[a]cute poly drug intoxication due to the combined effects of buprenorphine, sertraline, norsertraline, bupropion, amitriptyline, lidocaine, chlordiazepoxide, methocarbamol and tetrahydrocannabinol.” It was noted that none of the substances were at toxic levels. Furthermore, examination of Smick’s heart revealed left ventricular enlargement but no evidence of atherosclerosis.
Medical board investigators found notably absent from the coroner’s toxicology report any metabolites of Lorazapam, Flurazepam, Alprazolam and Phenobarbital, some of which center records show Smick received within the prior 24-36 hours.
Headrick’s public reprimand is for failure to maintain adequate and accurate records and unprofessional conduct/repeated negligent acts. His use of multiple medications “was unsupported by the medical records since withdrawal from opiates or benzodiazepines were not demonstrated, nor was insomnia or pain consistently proven,” states the medical board. “There was no indication for prescribing Zoloft since a diagnosis of major depression was excluded due to drug abuse. Elavil is an obsolete medication with many problematic adverse effects. Phenobarbital is similarly a medication belonging to an earlier generation of physicians due to its risks. The interacting side effects of these many medications are unpredictable.”
The “unpredictable consequence constitutes negligence,” according to the board, which also damned: the simultaneous administering of sedatives such as Phenbarbital, Lyrica and Librium with the opiate Buprenorphone; the simultaneous ordering of 10 medications without a record of symptoms supporting a diagnosis; and only ordering vital signs of a new patient when he was awake as opposed to every two hours.
The state nursing board previously cited Mission Pacific Coast Recovery Center registered nurse George Gappmayer for “failure to exercise the degree of professional judgment expected of a vocational nurse.” He was fined $1,000.
The mistreatment of their son led Tim and Tami Smick all the way up to Sacramento, as demonstrated by their support for Prop. 46, the Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Cap and Drug Testing of Doctors Initiative that was on the Nov. 4, 2014, ballot.
[embed-1]At the press conference that May 2, 2013, day, Tami Smick, with her husband by her side, accused Headrick of prescribing “a toxic combination of medications” that led to the death of her son. His blood pressure started to drop, yet he was unmonitored and unchecked for more than six hours, charged the Downey teacher.
“When a nurse checked him in the morning, he was dead. He’d been gone so long that he was already in rigor mortis. … Our beautiful son was left to die in his bed. No one checked on him. They left him alone and he went to this place for help and they left him for dead.”
Tim Smick, a home-building contractor, said he could not understand why, when there is a serious injury or death on one of his jobs sites, the police and the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal OSHA) show up, but no one did at the hospital where his son died. (Except for the coroner, who merely carted the victim away.)
But learning the cause of death from that coroner led the Smicks to fight for justice for others. That’s when the Smicks learned the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), which Gov. Jerry Brown signed in 1975, capped non-economic damages at $250,000 in medical negligence lawsuits brought in California. Supporters of Prop. 46 argued that, with inflation, the cap should have been raised to $1 million.
“We can’t fight this,” Tim Smick said that day. “This system is so jacked up. There is no defense. In our case, we are up against the Goliath of insurance companies and doctors. The doctor actually had an insurance adjuster call our attorney to call us and say to watch what we say, really, or he is going to sue us. So I’m the victim now for causing our son’s death? This system is broken.”
Proposition 46 went on to be soundly defeated at the polls, thanks mostly to the tons of money poured into the no campaign by the health insurance industry.
The Smicks settled a malpractice lawsuit against Headrick, the terms of which weren’t disclosed.
Headrick is listed as the owner and medical director of Tres Vistas Recovery.
MATT COKER
Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the paper’s first calendar editor. He went on to be managing editor, executive editor and is now senior staff writer.
MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—150856
DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—Voluntary agreement not to practice
Surgeon accused of trying to record staff in Winchester hospital restroom
Last May, a nurse at Winchester Hospital noticed an odd-looking clothes hook inside a staff restroom on the surgical unit. She inspected it more closely and saw a tiny lens embedded in the plastic. It turned out to be a hidden camera.
Now, nearly nine months later, a well-known surgeon has been charged with trying to secretly record staff undressing. Dr. Dennis Begos, who was the hospital’s chief of surgery from 2007 to 2017, was arraigned last month in Woburn District Court and is awaiting trial. Begos, 56, is a Yale School of Medicine graduate.
“He is a prominent and gifted surgeon who pled not guilty,’’ said his attorney, Paul Cirel, who would not comment further on the case. Winchester police charged Begos with one count of attempting to commit secret sexual surveillance.
The nurse who found the device on the restroom door on May 1 immediately gave it to a hospital security official. Among the deleted files from the camera, he discovered a photo of Begos and his wife on the beach, leading police to suspect him, according to a police report filed in court.
Three weeks later, hospital Chief Executive Dr. Richard Weiner suspended Begos’s medical staff privileges and reported him to the Board of Registration in Medicine. Begos, who was not employed by the hospital, signed a voluntary agreement not to practice medicine in July while the licensing board investigated.
A similar incident occurred last April at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, which, like Winchester Hospital, is part of the Lahey Health hospital and physician network. In the Lahey case, a nursing student who worked at the hospital was fired from his job for placing a camera hidden in a pen in an employee restroom.
At the time, police charged Michael Mcdermott, 21, of Tewksbury with three counts of photographing an unsuspecting nude person, and one count of possession of a wiretap device. That case, however, was immediately publicized: Burlington police put out a press release.
Winchester police did not publicly release information on the Begos case. And while hospital executives notified staff about the hidden camera on the bathroom door, they did not offer information about Begos’s involvement or why he was no longer on staff.
“This incident is incredibly disturbing and a severe breach of privacy,’’ Lahey Health spokesman Christopher Murphy said in a statement to the Globe. “The safety and security of staff and patients at Winchester Hospital is of critical importance to leadership.’’
He said the device did not contain any images from the restroom.
On the evening the camera was discovered, Weiner confronted Begos before a dinner for medical professionals at the Seasons 52 restaurant in Burlington, according to the police report. Begos told him he did not know about the incident. The report said Weiner later told police he should not have spoken to Begos about the camera and that he was not trying to interfere with the investigation.
Murphy said Begos’s privileges were not suspended for three weeks after the allegations surfaced because Weiner believed he needed more information to carry out such a serious action. On May 22, the hospital said, police shared additional information and Weiner suspended him. Later that day, Begos crashed his car on Route 93 and was hospitalized, according to the police report. In their investigation, police had found other photos of Begos on the camera.
During his Dec. 18 arraignment, Begos was released on conditions that he not commit any crimes or contact any witnesses in the case. He also was required to continue mental health counseling.
The case is scheduled for a pretrial conference January 30. (LINK)—1/18/2019
CALIFORNIA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—37880 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—Probation, Limits on Practice, Administrative Action Taken By Other State. See disciplinary actions at the bottom of this blog post.
Shasta County woman accused of posing as nurse, doctor arrested in illegal Botox probe
A woman has been charged with practicing medicine without a license while providing Botox and other treatments at a Redding spa the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office said maimed some of the victims.
Susan Ann Tancreto is charged with eight felony violations, including mayhem, battery with serious bodily injury and selling and transporting a controlled substance after a California Department of Consumer Affairs and U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation, the DA’s office said.
Dr. Larry Richard Pyle also was charged with aiding and abetting Tancreto, the news release said.
Some of the Botox and/or filler injections resulted in “severe injury and significant facial deformities to victims, who now require long-term medical treatment,” the DA’s office said.
Both Tancreto and Pyle were arrested Wednesday morning, Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said.
Bridgett said Tancreto had been seeing clients for three to five years and there are at least three victims.
“The basic way it came to the attention of law enforcement is one of the victims sought help from another doctor based on injuries she suffered. Then the doctor looked up the individual the victim said had done this to her and learned she did not have a license,” Bridgett said.
The business where Tancreto was giving treatment at was Bellissima Salon and Day Spa, Bridgett said.
Charges have not been filed against the spa. A hairdresser at the spa said Wednesday afternoon that Trancreto hadn’t worked there for months.
“We are just dealing with her (Tancreto) and Dr. Pyle,” said Bridgett, adding that Pyle is a family practice physician in Redding.
The DA’s news release said, “Tancreto told multiple victims she was a nurse who worked for Dr. Pyle. However, Tancreto does not possess a medical doctor or nurse’s license and never has possessed such licenses.”
Investigators allege Tancreto purchased Botox from Pyle and then would take it to inject patients who thought she was a nurse. They also allege she bought the products online from outside of the country.
Pyle did not examine the individuals who were receiving the Botox injections from Tancreto and other treatments to ensure they were candidates to receive them, the DA’s news release said.
One of the victims learned after having a biopsy that she will require lifelong treatment after Tancreto injected silicone into her lips, the DA’s news release said, adding that silicone has not been approved by the FDA to be injected to fill wrinkles or augment tissues anywhere in the body.
Investigators also allege Tancreto offered, sold, furnished or gave away controlled substances such as Norco, Valium and Tramadol.
The Shasta County District Attorney’s Office is asking anyone who received treatments from Tancreto to report it to its consumer protection hotline at 225-5391. (LINK)—1/16/2019
DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS
CASE NUMBER: 02 2013234269
DESCRIPTION: SEVEN YEARS PROBATION WITH VARIOUS TERMS AND CONDITIONS. RESTRICTIONS: SHALL HAVE A THIRD PARTY CHAPERONE PRESENT WHILE CONSULTING, EXAMINING OR TREATING FEMALE PATIENTS, INCLUDING FEMALE MINOR PATIENTS AND PROHIBITED FROM SUPERVISING PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS.
EFFECTIVE DATE: FEBRUARY 11, 2016
CASE NUMBER: 02 2011216211
DESCRIPTION: THREE YEARS PROBATION WITH VARIOUS TERMS AND CONDITIONS. RESTRICTIONS: SHALL HAVE A THIRD PARTY CHAPERONE PRESENT WHILE CONSULTING, EXAMINING OR TREATING FEMALE PATIENTS AND PROHIBITED FROM SUPERVISING PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT.
EFFECTIVE DATE: JUNE 11, 2014
JURISDICTION: NEW YORK BOARD FOR PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL CONDUCT
DESCRIPTION OF ACTION: NEW YORK MEDICAL LICENSE WAS SURRENDERED.
DATE OF ACTION: APRIL 7, 2016
JURISDICTION: NEW YORK STATE BOARD OF MEDICINE
DESCRIPTION OF ACTION: EFFECTIVE 05/03/1999, NEW YORK STATE BOARD ISSUED A CENSURE BASED ON ACTION TAKEN BY THE MEDICAL BOARD OF CALIFORNIA.
FLORIDA MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—ME94145 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 1/11/2019
Police: Doctor sent child porn to girlfriend, asked her to take nude photos of her daughters
OVIEDO, Fla. - A 42-year-old doctor who lives in Windermere but who practices in The Villages was arrested Tuesday on child pornography and child solicitation charges.
Investigators said Trinetra Vaidya was arrested on a warrant in Volusia County after he sent pornographic images of underage girls to his girlfriend, who was arrested Monday.
The Oviedo Police Department said Vaidya sent his girlfriend sexually suggestive text messages, including asking her to take nude photos of her daughters – ages 11 and 12 – for his gratification.
“Go swipe their panties,” Vaidya is accused of texting her, to which she replied, “Lol ok.”
“For the girls – it’s been very traumatic for them and our family,” said the girls’ aunt, who asked to not be identified. “To say we were shocked, beyond belief is an understatement.”
Investigators said the girls’ mother didn’t say no or report him to police, and the girls said they believe she took the photos.
The girls’ older, adult sister told Channel 9 that she and her younger sisters feel betrayed by their mother after seeing the text messages, but the girls still want to see her. They are now with their father.
“We feel betrayed, and it sucks, because it’s my own mom,” she said. “It’s just really hard.”
She said her mother’s phone was backing up text messages onto a family computer when her younger sisters discovered them.
The girls’ aunt said she is grateful that the younger of the two girls reported it to her cousin.
“Their life is completely demolished as they know it, but it doesn’t mean there’s not good things to come,” she said. “They’ll be safe, protected and loved.”
A judge ordered the girls’ mother to stay away from her boyfriend and all girls.
John Phillips, the family’s attorney, said he has concerns because of Vaidya’s profession.
“What’s he doing with patients?” he said. “He’s a gastroenterologist, which puts him in vulnerable positions every single day.” (LINK)—1/09/2019
OHIO MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—58.030190 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—no actions listed as of 1/06/2019
IF YOU’RE RACIST, THE WORLD SHOULD KNOW
Lara Kollab has called for violence against Jews, spread anti-Semitism, trivialized the Holocaust, defended the terror organization Hamas and supported terrorists on Twitter.
She has also compared Israel to Nazi Germany, spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and hatred of Israel, and accused Israel of exploiting the Holocaust.
Kollab is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and a supporter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). She is also is affiliated with Al Awda.
As of December 2018, vitals.com listed Kollab as a doctor at The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. The address listed on vitals.com indicated that Kollab worked at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus.
As of December 2018, Kollab’s LinkedIn page said she was an Internal Medicine Resident based in Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from the Touro College Of Osteopathic Medicine (Touro) with a D.O. in 2018. She received a bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University (JCU) in 2013.
Kollab’s Linkedin also said that she was a Biology tutor “to high school and college kids in her hometown" since 2013, a Mentor to “1st, 2nd, and 3rd year medical students" since 2015, and a “Big Sister" at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America since 2016.
On October 8, 2017, Kollab said on Facebook that she was working at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago as part of her fourth year of medical school.
Kollab is connected to other social media users, whose feeds are replete with anti-Jewish posts. These connections are detailed at the bottom of this profile.
In March 2018, Kollab used the alias “Elle Kay" on social media, but went by “Lara Kollab" as of December 2018.
Calls for Violence Against Jews On January 2, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “hahha ewww.. ill purposely give all the yahood [Jews] the wrong meds…"
On December 8, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “After repeated failed diplomacy, our aim is to defeat the Zionist state through force.“ Kollab was responding to a tweet that said: “Peace won’t come by killing every Zionist. There has to be diplomacy.”
On March 29, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “Khalid stop starting fala7i vs madani [peasant vs civilized] wars on twitter! roo7o [go] fight with yahood [Jews] instead. Yallah.“
On August 28, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “@ShabanSalya Allah yo5od el yahood 3ashan enbattel nettar nroo7 3nd hel wes5een -___- [May Allah take back (end the lives) of the Jews so we stop being forced to go to those unclean ones]”
Anti-Semitic Tweets On August 27, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “shoof, ah 7efa 7elwe bes 7efa kolha yahood klab w looks like America, ya3ni wasn’t that special to me [look, Haifa is sweet (nice), but it’s full of Jewish dogs, and it looks like America, meaning, it wasn’t that special to me].“ On April 23, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “Annoying to go to school in a city full of Jews because everywhere I go I hear about the wonderful israel. About to tell this guy to stfu.”
On September 7, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “loll my friend’s husband works in an arabic restaurant.. a yahoodi [Jew] came in asking for israeli hummus.. he kicked him out of the restaurant"
On the same day, Kollab tweeted: “anddd falafel and shawarma and maftool and argeela and anything that’s OURS -__- klab [dog].“
On July 26, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “walking through the streets of palestine is funny- every person who gets mad says something along the lines of ‘Allah yo5odhom el yahood’ [Allah will take them, the Jews] ”
On June 30, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “yi5rib beethom el yahood [Destroy the homes of the Jews].. they live so damn long. Yitzhak Shamir, former prime minister of the apartheid state, died today at 96.“
On June 10, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “reminiscing about the jesr [bridge] and how the yahood [Jews] unfold and mess up all our clothes, steal things from our suitcases,… ugh klab [dogs] -__-.”
On May 1, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “studying,I hear my dad screaming,I run upstairs, ‘sho fe baba?! [what happened daddy?], he’s watching a video about yahood [Jews] screaming ‘EL YAHOOD KLAB!!’ [THE JEWS ARE DOGS!!] #paliprobs.“
On April 4, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “why is this airport literally full of Jews. I just had an evil staring contest with one bc he was staring. they look like settlers.” On March 22, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “yeah! so stupid! Yahood [Jews]“
On March 16, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “‘The battle for survival in a hostile environment is a familiar struggle for Jews the world over, …’ boohoo?”
On March 6, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “‘@FreeePalestine_: #Kony has to be a yahoodi [Jew] on the inside’ lol #blametheyahood #palestinianprobs.“
On February 8, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “yi5rib beethom el yahood [Destroy the homes of the Jews] #iSaythatalot.”
On January 2, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “freakin yahood [Jews].“
On January 1, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “so basically every mseba [insult] I say is directed at the yahood [Jews] haha. even if I do something really stupid I say ‘hebel yihbilhom el yahood’ [stupid stupid Jews] hehe.”
On October 27, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@AdamA_90 I’m dressing up as a yahoodi for halloween.“
On October 16, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “‘they want it as a ‘symbol of Jewish pride’.. why don’t you create a hat or something as a symbol of your nazi.. er jewish.. Pride.”
On October 7, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@SalyaFalastenia whattt! it was free on my phone! 3anjad yahood [ٍseriously Jews] loll"
On August 20, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@ZaidAtalla yeahh Allah yo5odhom el yahood [Allah will take the Jews].“
On July 22, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@SalyaFalastenia I blame israel for everything. everything that goes wrong, i say ‘allah yo5od el yahood’ [Allah will kill the Jews] :P.”
On June 26, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@SalyaFalastenia allah yo5odhom el yahood eli 7aramoona min bladna [Allah will take the Jews who exiled us from our country]“
Trivializing the Holocaust On October 22, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “After this debate, I have to watch a movie on the holocaust and write a paper on it. I am going to be brutally unsympathetic. #sorrynotsorry” On October 11, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “If I have to write a paper about the holocaust, I’m going to bring palestine into it and my professor better like it.“ Moe Hamdan responded: “make sure you mention the fact that ‘The Holocaust’ never happened.”
Kollab then tweeted back: “@MoeHamdan34 I think it did happen, it’s just exaggerated and the victimization of the jews (ignoring the others killed) is overdone.“
On October 9, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “Of course the only prejudice my class focuses on is US racism against African Americans and the Holocaust. Poor Jews. They’re so oppressed.”
On the same day, Kollab tweeted: “I don’t mean to sound insensitive but I have a REALLY hard time feeling bad about Holocaust seeing as the ppl who were in it now kill my ppl.“
On the same day, Kollab tweeted: “So hard for me to not roll my eyes when the prof was saying that for our midterm, we have to watch a movie about the Holocaust+write a paper.”
Defending Hamas On July 21, 2014, Kollab tweeted: “Realize that Hamas was created in response to decades of brutal oppression with stated goal of ending that oppression.“ On July 25, 2014, after another Twitter user https://twitter.com/Eis_Ice_Baby/status/492720226258403328Kollab’s claim and noted that Hamas’s charter“says their goal is to destroy Israel and all Jews,” Kollab replied: “@OphirEis Actually, stop exploiting the Holocaust to justify killing babies. Hamas says nothing about all Jews. It’s about injustice.“
On July 28, 2014, Kollab tweeted: “It shouldn’t even be big news that Hamas’ leader said that. Hamas exists bc of occupation. Hamas NEVER mentioned ‘all Jews worldwide’”
Articles 22 and 32 of the Hamas charter attacked Judaism and Zionism on a global basis. Article 28 claims: “Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. ‘May the cowards never sleep.’"
On January 14, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “@kmoran98 Palestinians are Semetic so we can’t be anti-Semitic. And Hamas doesn’t hate Jews, Hamas wants to liberate their people.“
Supporting Terrorists On August 29, 2017, Kollab tweeted: “This girl literally calls herself young kanafani imagine thinking you’re that revolutionary while posting selfies holy s**t.” On December 5, 2013, Kollab tweeted twice in praise of terrorist Ghassan Kanafani.
Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.
On February 21, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “victory for #palestine today. our voices were heard and our demands met. khader adnan will be free and so will falasteen inshallah :)“ On February 19, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “#KhaderAdnan is dying so we can live. #Palestine #KhaderExists.”
Khader Adnan is a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization. A 2007 YouTube video showed Adnan praising and encouraging suicide bombings: “Who among you will carry the next explosive belt? Who among you will fire the next bullets? Who among you will have his body parts blown all over?”
Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany On October 20, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “Tell me what makes Israel’s ‘we must remain a Jewish state’ obsession any less disturbing than Hitler’s obsession with a pure white nation.“ On May 9, 2013, Kollab tweeted one day earlier: “Adidas, Puma, and Hugo Boss were founded by Nazis. They made cool stuff so they couldn’t possibly be evil. #IfTheWorldFollowedZionistLogic.”
The next day, she tweeted: “I just googled it. Zionists say you can’t boycott them bc they invent things.. so did lots of evil ppl. Idiots.“
On August 5, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “@ModernState a) jews aren’t a race b) zionists does not equal jews c) zionists are murderous 21st century nazis.”
On April 28, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “… It’s funny how zionists are trying to compare BDS with the Holocaust. If anything,you’re the nazis in the situation now.“
On February 12, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “israeli soldier added me on fb…he has an album of him in the army and one of him in poland crying about the holocaust. #hypocrisy.”
On February 6, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “‘@Dalia_xo: Zionist and their crocodile tears when they talk about the holocaust’ most annoying thing in the world.shut up nazis the sequel.“
On January 1, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “jewish settlers in palestine are the descendants of the nazis.”
On December 4, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@ezeejaay @dotfuz shows how much you know.the first zionazi settlement was established in 1878.. WAY before the holocaust. educate yourself.“
On the same day, Kollab tweeted: “@Jewish_Hijabi so no, Palestinians will not try to expel all Jews. we have no problem with Jews, just murderous zionazis.”
On October 29, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@viva_Israel @yelkhoudary typical nazi mentality. zionists are the spawn of hitler.“
On October 7, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “the US spent 1.4 trillion dollars on WW2 to defeat Hitler’s Nazi regime and has probably spent more funding Israel’s Nazi regime.”
On July 17, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@Jew4palestine of course, holocaust was horrible. But it doesn’t give Israel excuse to do the same to #Palestinians.“
On July 6, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “there should one huge Arab. we would destroy the terrorist nazi state of #israel if we were truly unitebed.”
On June 26, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@netanyahu shut up nazi"
Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories On February 27, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “How can we be angry at misguided ppl in the West? The media and schools are the most powerful tools- both are full of Zionist propaganda.“ On July 28, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “@poetrazzete01 yup, zionist-owned media.”
On October 31, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@MikeyChico Israel** runs America.“
Spreading Hatred of Israel On August 16, 2017, Kollab tweeted: “Further proof that Israel is more about hatred and white supremacy than it is about world Jewry, in case you didn’t know.” On January 1, 2017, Kollab tweeted: “Zionists will basically use every opportunity to use the words ‘Israeli’, ‘victim’, and ‘terrorist attack’ in the same sentence. “
On November 25, 2016, Kollab tweeted: “Every Palestinian get-together ever discussion topics include: Politics, religion, marriage, ye5reb bayt el e7telal [May he destroy the occupation’s house]”
On March 18, 2015, Kollab tweeted: “It’s amazing to me how absent the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians pre-1948 (what started it all) is from the ‘dialogue’ about the conflict.“
The photo Kollab tweeted featured a caption mocking the grief of Hadassi’s mourners, that read: “And after I shot his mother he threw a rock at me.” Kollab commented: “The struggle is too real out here.“
On March 17, 2014, Kollab tweeted: “Zionism: Exploiting actual suffering of Jews to further political gain at the expense of another people. What a disturbing ideology.”
On June 29, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “There’s actually nothing worse than a ‘sympathetic’ Zionist.“
On April 8, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “On Holocaust Remembrance Day, I feel for the victims whose deaths are sickeningly exploited to perpetuate ethnic cleansing today.”
On January 12, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “Anyone who says israelis are interested in peace is a lying scumbag. They don’t want anyone there except Jews, most preferably Ashkenazi.“
On November 18, 2012, Kollab tweeted photos from the Hindu genocide in East Pakistan in 1971, with the comment: “@DeStRoYeR3000x @WDammer William, are you SERIOUSLY debating that Islam is violent while israel does this?”
Kollab’s tweet that the victims photographed were Palestinians murdered by Israel.
On April 22, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “@Dilmunite @levantmelodies @madeinnablus we’re not comparing the #s of the holocaust to palestine. it’s the treatment of the ppl, inhumanity.“
On December 8, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@IranianZionist @imNadZ jewish nationalism is just a term that makes zionism sound less blood-thirsty. nothing can justify israel’s actions.”
On November 2, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@CptlConnection @lupefiasco Jews were not the only ones in holocaust. but they’re the only ones who are now slaughtering another people.“
On September 16, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “#LifeWouldBeBetter if #israel didnt exist.”
On July 6, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “@SalyaFalastenia yes inshallah! get rid of corrupt governments, focus on education and iman, become truly united, and Israel is no more :)“
On May 9, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “i cant sleep because im so annoyed of #israel’s existence. if i fail my final tomorrow, im blaming it on israel and obama’s stupid speech.”
Accusing Israel of Exploiting the Holocaust On July 21, 2014, Kollab tweeted: “@KenScottE The favorite card of all Israel supporters is the Holocaust.“ On April 9, 2014, Kollab tweeted: “@hamzadawud you think? I feel like Israel will forever exploit the holocaust to further their political agenda :/”
On September 11, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “@NazzyCR7 Norm. Jewish. Constantly remind ppl of the Holocaust, relate those who did 9/11 to Nazis, justify Israel’s bloodlust. Disgusting.“
On June 26, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “Yet another way in which Israel and Zionists exploit the suffering of millions of Jews for their own murderous, selfish agenda.”
On January 13, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “#ZionistLies We are so hurt by the Holocaust.So much so that we’re going to exploit those ppl to further our own agenda of ethnic cleansing.“
On September 23, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “3 things every zionist MUST mention in every conversation: #iran, #giladshalit, and the #holocaust. perfect plan: induce fear and pity.”
On August 23, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “all they’re good at is crying.boohoo holocaust.boohoo we are always getting killed. garnering sympathy so they can kill as much as they want.“
Al Awda Activism Kollab joined the closed Facebook group, “Al-Awda-Cleveland,” under her alias “Elle Kay,“ on March 17, 2012. On November 21, 2012, Kollab tweeted a photo from an Al-Awda protest in Cleveland against Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense (OPD) against Hamas and wrote: “Our protest for #Gaza today in Cleveland.”
On November 20, 2012, Kollab tweeted: “Protest tomorrow in Cleveland at Public Square, 4 pm in solidarity with #Gaza ! Be there or be square [ie. complicit to israeli war crimes].“
OPD was launched to stop Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli civilians. From November 14 to November 21, 2012, Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 1,506 rockets at Israel. The majority of those rockets struck Israel, damaging homes, schools and other civilian areas.
Human Rights Watch noted: “Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim.”
Al Awda co-founder, Abbas Hamideh, led chants at the rally screaming [00:00:23]: “When people are occupied, resistance is justified" [00:01:39] and [00:03:36] “Israel is a terrorist state!“ and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Hamideh has confirmed this chant is a call to eliminate Israel.
Supporting BDS On October 5, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “a girl in my class is drinking red vitamin water and I’m just imagining it to be blood. #kindacreepyiknow #cocacolaownseverything #BDS.“ On December 22, 2011, Kollab tweeted: “I love #BDS.”
On the same day, Kollab tweeted: “@EgyptoRican96 ew mcdonalds is disgusting and pays for the killing of palestinian children! boycott mcdonalds. #BDS.“
On March 6, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “‘@Tsharrafna: WOW. So impressed, such great news! #UCRdivest passed! Congratulations on the great work. #BDS’ yay!!!”
Anti-Jewish Social Media Connections Kollab interacts with other Twitter users whose feeds are also replete with anti-Jewish hatred. Below are some representative connections and examples of social media posts evidencing their anti-Semitism: Kollab has interacted for years on Twitter with Al Awda co-founder Abbas Hamideh, known for spreading anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel, denying Jewish history and supporting terrorism.
On October 10, 2016, Hamideh tweeted: “@ikhras you’re anti Semitic according to non Semitic shlomos from Poland .“
Hamideh was responding to another tweet praising a Palestinian terrorist for killing two and injuring six in a shooting at a Jerusalem light rail train station.
On May 26, 2016, Hamideh tweeted: “Zionism will end just like Nazism. You can have a chat with God afterward to guide you back to Poland, Russia or even Morocco #Palestine.”
On April 19, 2016, Hamideh denied the Jews’ historical connection to Jerusalem, including the https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-is-beneath-the-temple-mount-920764/and the Western Wall. He claimed on Facebook: “There is no Jewish history at the Al-Aqsa Compound. There’s nothing Jewish about the ‘Wailing Wall’ which is the side structure of Al-Aqsa. All that is fabricated.“
Kollab has also interacted on Twitter with anti-Semite and Holocaust denier Moe Hamdan.
On April 9, 2012, Hamdan tweeted: “@Michaellaax3 if you go to Starbucks your a jew Idc what you say n you will get knocked out.”
On October 11, 2012, when Kollab tweeted: “If I have to write a paper about the holocaust, I’m going to bring palestine into it and my professor better like it,“ Hamdan responded: “@ellekay_ make sure you mention the fact that ‘The Holocaust’ never happened.”
Kollab is the sister of Ameed Kollab, whose Twitter feed is also filled with anti-Semitism. The two interact on social media.
On February 26, 2016, Kollab tweeted: “I have absolutely no problem with Jews, but Zionists are a whole other story. They are the cancer of the earth.“
On July 8, 2013, Kollab tweeted: “@MahdiJabr1 thirsty ass arabs jus lookin for easy hoes thats why they like jews.”
Kollab has interacted with Ahmad Jaber, who has spread anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry on Twitter.
On August 3, 2014 — responding to a https://twitter.com/JSwipe/status/491269214431215616by the Jewish dating app Twitter account JSwipe, that read: “A Nice Jewish Girl On Every Swipe!“ — Jaber tweeted: “@JSwipe go f**k urself u Zionist nazi murderers!”
On August 8, 2013, Jaber tweeted: “@rebel_flower_ @Suckerr_Free she looks amazing your such a hating a** Jew.“
BDS
The BDS movement was founded in 2005 by Omar Barghouti and asserts that it "works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law.”
BDS initiatives include compelling institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, academic boycotts, anti-Israel rallies andhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbAb5PRFZCE.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, backed by university anti-Israel affiliates, student governments have brought to vote on some form of boycott of — or divestment from — Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities. These resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. In 2013, when the student government of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threatshttps://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2013/04/letter-to-the-editor-why-i-asked-for-a-secret-ballot the spitting on a student wearing a Star of David necklace. As a result, the student government chose to vote via a “secret ballot” in order to ensure its members’ safety.
Occupation: Professional
University:
Organizations(s): Al-Awda, BDS
Close Connections(s):
Last Modified: 01/02/2019 Photos & Screenshots
Infamous Quotes “@TheRealMikeJr hahha ewww.. ill purposely give all the yahood [Jews] the wrong meds…”
Lara Kollab, Twitter, Jan 2 2012 “Further proof that Israel is more about hatred and white supremacy than it is about world Jewry, in case you didn’t know.”
Lara Kollab, Twitter, Aug 16 2017 “Zionists will basically use every opportunity to use the words ‘Israeli’, ‘victim’, and ‘terrorist attack’ in the same sentence. ”
Lara Kollab, Twitter, Jan 1 2017 “Annoying to go to school in a city full of Jews because everywhere I go I hear about the wonderful israel. About to tell this guy to stfu.”
Lara Kollab, Twitter, Apr 23 2013 “After repeated failed diplomacy, our aim is to defeat the Zionist state through force.”
Lara Kollab, Twitter, Dec 8 2012 “@viva_Israel @yelkhoudary typical nazi mentality. zionists are the spawn of hitler.”
Lara Kollab, Twitter, Oct 29 2011 “… It’s funny how zionists are trying to compare BDS with the Holocaust. If anything,you’re the nazis in the situation now.”
OHIO MEDICAL BOARD RECORD—35.124017 DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS—none listed as of 1/06/2019
Youngstown cardiologist arrested at St. E’s following threats
The doctor was arrested wearing scrubs inside the cardiac lab
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) - A cardiologist with Mercy Health was arrested inside St. Elizabeth Hospital after police say he threatened to kill his wife and kids.
According to a police report, the wife of 39-year-old Dr. Allen Amorn told sheriff’s deputies that Amorn texted her on Dec. 27 saying he was going to “shoot them all” when he got home from work. He also said he had a knife and was going to kill himself.
Deputies contacted Mercy Health police, believing Amor could still be in the hospital.
“We asked St. E’s to go ahead and check on him and see if he was there and what kind of frame of mind he was in. That’s when St. E’s ended up getting into an altercation with him,” said Major Jeff Allen.
Hospital police located Amorn in the cardiac lab of the hospital. They say he was sitting at a desk, wearing scrubs, and holding his cell phone. When officers approached Allen, he stood up, grabbed a knife from his back pocket and took a fighting stance against them, the report stated.
Officers told Amorn to drop the knife several times but he refused. At one point, Amorn made a movement toward officers with the knife and they deployed their tasers to stop him, according to the police report.
Amorn was arrested and booked into the Mahoning County Jail on charges of aggravated menacing, resisting arrest, and domestic violence.
Officials at Mercy Health said “the situation is a personal matter and we cannot comment. We take the safety of our patients and employees as a priority.”
Amorn was in court Wednesday, posted bond and was released from jail.
“On all domestic violence, there is a form they sign before we release them that says they will not have any contact with the victim. If they do have contact with the victim and it is reported to us, he will be immediately arrested,” Allen said.
Amorn is charged with domestic violence, aggravated menacing, and resisting arrest.
He is scheduled to appear again in court Friday.
Police have his old phone and the 8-inch knife he brandished as evidence while the case moves forward. (LINK)—1/03/2019
Texas Medical Board suspends Lufkin physician, determines practice is ‘threat to public welfare’
(KYTX) LUFKIN — The Texas Medical Board has announced they have suspended an East Texas physician.
On Thursday, a disciplinary panel of the TMB temporarily suspended, without notice, the Texas medical license of Robert Victor Hallett, M.D. (Lic. No. L9581), of Lufkin, after determining his continuation in the practice of medicine poses a continuing threat to public welfare.
The suspension was effective immediately.
The Board panel found that Dr. Hallett suffers from an impairment due to illness, drunkenness, excessive use of drugs, narcotics, chemicals, or other substances, or as a result of any mental or physical conditions, that affects his ability to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety to patients.
A temporary suspension hearing with notice will be held as soon as practicable with 10 days’ notice to Dr. Hallett, unless the hearing is specifically waived by Dr. Hallett.
The temporary suspension will remain in place until the Board takes further action. (LINK)—1/04/2019
MEDICAL BOARD ACTIONS
Action Date: 01/03/2019 Description: ON JANUARY 3, 2019, A DISCIPLINARY PANEL OF THE TEXAS MEDICAL BOARD TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED, WITHOUT NOTICE, THE TEXAS MEDICAL LICENSE OF ROBERT VICTOR HALLETT, M.D., AFTER DETERMINING HIS CONTINUATION IN THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE POSES A CONTINUING THREAT TO PUBLIC WELFARE. THE SUSPENSION WAS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. THE BOARD PANEL FOUND THAT DR. HALLETT SUFFERS FROM AN IMPAIRMENT DUE TO ILLNESS, DRUNKENNESS, EXCESSIVE USE OF DRUGS, NARCOTICS, CHEMICALS, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES, OR AS A RESULT OF ANY MENTAL OR PHYSICAL CONDITIONS, THAT AFFECTS HIS ABILITY TO PRACTICE MEDICINE WITH REASONABLE SKILL AND SAFETY TO PATIENTS. A TEMPORARY SUSPENSION HEARING WITH NOTICE WILL BE HELD AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE WITH 10 DAYS’ NOTICE TO DR. HALLETT, UNLESS THE HEARING IS SPECIFICALLY WAIVED BY DR. HALLETT. THE TEMPORARY SUSPENSION REMAINS IN PLACE UNTIL THE BOARD TAKES FURTHER ACTION.
Those documents show Dr. Juan Villarreal was indicted on these charges in October of 2018. He was arrested on December 17 for failing to appear in court and released just one day later.
A court document lists three counts of alleged sexual assaults. The earliest is from November 2015, with other incidents reported in 2016 and 2018.
Count one states Villarreal intentionally or knowingly caused the penetration of the female sexual organ with his finger.
Count two states Villarreal penetrated the female sexual organ with his finger and/or medical instrument.
A third count accuses the doctor of another act on the female sexual organ with his finger.
The alleged victims were three separate women. According to police reports, the alleged sexual assaults happened when the women came in for routine exams.
In the most recent incident reported in February of 2018, that woman had been a patient of Villarreal’s for more than 20 years.
Dr. Juan Villarreal is out on bond and is allowed to work as part of his bond conditions.
KRIS 6 News contacted the Texas Medical Board about what disciplinary action, if any, may be taken against Villarreal. A spokesperson sent us an e-mail that said the board takes these issues very seriously. The statement goes on to say that Dr. Villarreal still has an active license at this time.
KRIS 6 News reporter Emily Hamilton called Dr. Villarreal requesting a comment on his indictment. She was told by a receptionist that he was with a patient and was unable to talk. We are still waiting to hear back from him. (LINK)—1/03/2019
Recent Comments