Doctor caused medical errors after lying about education, license

Before receiving any medical treatment, most people take the time to research the doctor that will be treating them. You may look at their records to determine where your doctor went to school and how long he or she has been practicing, or you may do a cursory google search to see if there is anything blaringly negative associated with your doctor’s name.

Mostly, however, we do not expect to find anything in those searches. In New York, we expect that the doctors who treat us will be forthcoming with their information, and, more importantly, that the information they do share will be truthful.

However, when doctors lie about their ability to practice or their history with the state Medical Board, it may be because the doctor is trying to cover up medical malpractice investigations.

Sadly, when one woman contacted a doctor to learn more about having a lap-band surgery, he lied to her at every step of the process. After surgery, the band slipped from its original position, and cut into the woman’s stomach wall. She suffered internal damage to her stomach, and she still struggles to eat meat and other solid foods.

The surgical errors the woman suffered from were not the only charges against the doctor. According to the Supreme Court, the doctor “was arrested and convicted for burglary of exam papers…fraudulently misrepresented the educational institutions he attended on his medical license application, and had demonstrated a penchant for dishonesty” in order to change information to suit his needs. He was also accused of acting without a “consistent regard for the truth.”

Read more in upcoming posts to learn more about the problems the woman suffered as a result of the doctor’s negligence, as well as the medical malpractice lawsuit the doctor is facing.

Source: Courthouse News Service, “Medical Complaint Is Catalogue of Horrors,” Jamie Ross, 6 July 2011