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Bad Docs

By on March 4, 2012

Uh oh!

Some bad docs are in the news today.  No, that’s not bad dogs, but bad members of my profession, I am sorry to report.

In California, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley has charged Dr. Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng, 42, with second degree murder after the death of Joey Rivero, a 27-year-old substance abuser from a cocktail of pain killers and tranquilizers prescribed by Dr. “Lisa” mixed with alcohol. Rivero had seen Dr. Tseng claiming ‘hand pain.’ The doctor has been under scrutiny by the California Medical Board  and the Drug Enforcement Administration over several years for prescribing dangerous substances without good faith medical exams. Over a three-year period starting in January 2007, Tseng wrote over 27,000 prescriptions, about 25 a day at a clinic she and her husband, another doctor, own. D.A. Cooley admitted that charging a doctor with murder in an instance like this is unusual but not unknown, claiming this was a particularly flagrant example. Tseng faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted. More at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/03

In Texas, U.S. Health and Human Services investigators have brought charges against a Texas doctor responsible for $375 million in fraudulent medical claims and bogus procedures. Jacques Roy, a 41-year-old doctor who owns Medistat Group Associates in DeSoto, Texas, faces up to 100 years in prison if he’s convicted. The investigator on the case said Roy’s billing “was off the charts” and if true would have represented one of the busiest practices in the entire country, serving over 11,000 medicare patients using over 500 rehab facilities. Medicare fraud is rampant in this country. Tracking down offenders is very difficult, said the same investigator. Forces to pursue suspicious cases are insufficient. More at  http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/375

Meanwhile back in Los Angeles, Dr. Conrad Murray the cardiologist and one-time house physician to Michael Jackson filed papers demanding to be paroled. His argument was that Jackson was responsible for his own death. Pop singer and entertainment phenom Jackson, as you may recall, died after a large and inappropriately administered dose of propofol, an anesthetic designed for operating room use. A follow-up story elsewhere Friday claimed that while in prison, the doctor is making friends with Michael’s sister Janet’s ex-husband James DeBarge. Nice bedside manner, Dr. M! http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/02/

Any politician this year arguing that commerce is overly regulated bears close scrutiny. Society needs its watchdogs.

Arf Arf!

 

Tom Godfrey

About Tom Godfrey

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