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Tag:
Medical Malpractice
South Passaic
Police & Fire
License Permanently Stripped From NJ Doc Who Let 20-Year-Old ER Patient Die
UPDATE: An ER doctor had her medical license permanently revoked by the state of New Jersey for allowing a 20-year-old patient to die on her watch and then trying to cover it up, authorities said. Shar Kennett, 66, of Wayne was on duty in the emergency room at Overlook Medical Center in Summit when the patient was brought in with urgent "respiratory distress" on June 29, 2017, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Kennett failed to examine him and didn't order any diagnostics, "despite his parents' urgent requests for assistance," Platkin said on Thursday, April 18. The patient died in…
Gloucester
News
Hospital Must Pay $3M To Family Of Franklinville Mom Who Died Of Flesh-Eating Bacteria
A New Jersey hospital must pay $3 million to the family of a woman who died from a flesh-eating bacteria nearly seven years ago. A Camden County Superior Court jury awarded the money to the family of 54-year-old Adrienne Nock — who visited Jefferson Washington Township Hospital visited twice with symptoms before she died in 2017, according to the law firm Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky. Nock, of Franklinville, was remembered as a "beloved" client advocate for the Camden County Board of Social Services. The lawsuit said Nock went to Jefferson Washington Township Hospital on …
Montgomery MD
Police & Fire
Urgent Care Doctor Convicted Of Raping, Groping Women During Exams In Silver Spring
An urgent care doctor who groped, inappropriately touched, and sexually abused patients during routine exams is facing more than four decades in prison, according to officials. Dr. Ishtiaq Malik, 59, of Lanham, was convicted by a jury for targeting at least two patients in his care at the Advanced Walk-In Urgent Care at 10800 Lockwood Drive in Silver Spring, where he was arrested last year. Malik was taken into custody on Feb. 16, 2023 outside of his practice, and since then, eight additional victims came forward. Malik was found guilty on Friday of two counts each of second-degree ra…
Nassau
News
Nassau County Doctor Sentenced For Overprescribing Opioids, Leading To 5 Deaths
A Long Island doctor – who once ran his office out of an old Radio Shack and his car – may now spend over a decade behind bars for prescribing his patients thousands of opioid pills at a time, leading to five overdose deaths. George Blatti, age 78, of Nassau County, received his sentence of five to 15 years in prison for the deaths on Monday, Jan. 22, according to the Nassau County District Attorney. According to the investigation and his guilty plea, between 2016 and 2018, Blatti prescribed patients addicted to opioids thousands of pills – such as oxycodone, morphine, clonazepam, alprazo…
Middlesex NJ
Legal
Woman Partially Paralyzed By Childbirth Epidural Agrees To $13.5M Settlement With NJ Hospital
A woman who was left paralyzed in her lower legs after childbirth reportedly has agreed to a $13.5 million settlement of a lawsuit against Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Alexandra Mejia was 18 and pregnant with her first child when she was admitted to the New Brunswick hospital on Oct. 25, 2019, according to a story published in the New Jersey Law Journal. A delayed diagnosis of blood that pooled in her lower back because of an epidural left her partially paralyzed, unable to walk and forced to use a catheter to urinate, it says. An obstetric anesthesiologist noticed heavy bleedi…
Lancaster
News
Ex-Lancaster Nurse Slapped With More Charges For Killing Or Attempting To Kill 22 Patients: AG
A notorious nurse has been given more charges for allegedly "administering lethal doses of unnecessary medication that resulted in the death of patients," Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced on Thursday, Nov. 2. Heather Irene Pressdee, 41, of Natrona Heights, was a registered nurse at Quality Life Services, "a skilled nursing facility in Chicora" when she allegedly gave three men too much insulin, causing hypoglycemia, the AG explained. A 55-year-old man died on Dec. 4, 2022, and an 83-year-old man died on Dec. 25, 2022, both passing from the illness. Still, t…
South Passaic
Legal
$2.25M Settlement Reached For Botched Hernia Surgery That Perforated Passaic County Man's Bowel
UPDATE: A Passaic County man whose bowel was perforated during hernia surgery, leading to severe and permanent complications, has reportedly reached a $2.25 million settlement of his medical malpractice suit. Vincent Dominianni, 54, of Totowa had the elective surgery in January 2019, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. He returned to the hospital the next day complaining of pain, constipation and a bloated abdomen, it says. The surgeon, Dr. Melissa Warta, ordered a CT scan and prescribed pain medications for what lawyers said she described as “normal post-operative findings" after an evalu…
Nassau
News
$31M Trip-Fall Fraud Scheme: Nassau County Attorneys, Miller Place Doctor Sentenced
Sentences have been handed out for two attorneys and a doctor convicted of defrauding New York businesses and their insurance companies of more than $31 million through a massive, three-year trip-and-fall fraud scheme. The three men all live on Long Island -- 60-year-old George Constantine in Plainview, 50-year-old Marc Elefant in Woodmere, and 67-year-old Andrew Dowd in Miller Place. Constantine and Dowd were convicted at a trial in mid-December 2022 of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud. Dowd was also found guilty of additional counts of conspiracy to co…
Middlesex NJ
News
More Patient Sex Abuse Charges For NJ Doctor
Patient sexual abuse charges continue to rack up for one New Jersey urgent care doctor. Yet another one of Gurvindra Johal's former patients has stepped forwarding, alleging the 55-year-old physician sexually assaulted them in Middlesex County, authorities said. On Tuesday, April 4, Johal, of the Colonia section of Woodbridge, was charged with an additional count of criminal sexual contact, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said. The investigation now includes a woman who alleges that Johal touched her inappropriately while under his care at Amboy Urgent Care,…
Essex NJ
News
NJ Doctor Faces More Patient Sex Abuse Charges — This Time In Essex County
A New Jersey doctor faces new charges of sexual abuse after additional patients stepped forward in Essex and Monmouth counties, authorities said. Dr. Gurvindra Johal was charged on Wednesday, March 8 with three counts of criminal sexual contact for allegedly inappropriately touching two patients under his care at an urgent care center on Broad Street in Newark, according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, Johal, 55, of the Colonia section of Woodbridge, has also been charged with criminal sexual contact by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Monm…
Fairfax
Police & Fire
Former
Dmv-a
rea Doctor Gets Prison Time For Prescribing Pills Leading To Fatal OD: Officials
A Louisiana doctor who used to practice in DC and Falls Church, Virginia, will spend more than a year in jail for illegally distributing oxycodone and hydrocodone to a Fairfax County man who later died of an overdose. Dr. Robert Cao, 39, was sentenced in US District Court for the District of Columbia to 15 months in prison on five felony counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance outside the scope of his professional practice, federal officials announced. According to court documents, Cao, who was licensed to practice medicine in the District of Columbia and Virginia wrote mu…
Suffolk MA
Police & Fire
Mass General Worker Charged With Second Sexual Assault In A Week: DA
A medical assistant with a history of accusations that he indecently touched patients had another charge added this week. Damien Knighton, 39, who worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, was arraigned on a second case on Monday, Jan. 23, the Suffolk County District Attorney said. Knighton was accused of similar accusations last week and was released on personal recognizance. A judge issued him held on $5,000 bail stemming from the new charge. Investigators said a former patient of Knighton's at MGH Back Bay Health Center saw the report on Knighton last week and came forward wit…
Chester
Police & Fire
Chesco Doctor Who Ran Opiate 'Pill Mill' Gets Sentenced
A suburban Philadelphia physician will spend two years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for running a "pill mill" through his Chester County office, authorities say. Dr. Yutong Zhang, 64, of Berwyn, pleaded guilty last February to four counts of distributing oxycodone outside of the usual course of professional practice and for no legitimate medical purpose, US Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said in a statement. Investigators have said that Zhang sold medically unnecessary opiate prescriptions for more than 100 "patients" who were really just c…
Fairfax
Police & Fire
Longtime Acupuncturist Accused Of Inappropriately Touching Woman During Treatment In Fairfax
Police say that a 64-year-old acupuncturist working at the Virginia University of Integrative Medicine (VUIM) has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a client. McLean resident Dr. Chang Hee Kim turned himself in at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center this week following an investigation into reports from a woman who alleged he inappropriately touched her during two treatments in July that she later reported, according to the police department. The investigation into the allegation “determined Dr. Kim’s examination was beyond the scope of a medical examination,” officia…
Suffolk NY
Police & Fire
Physician Assistant In Riverside Apprehended For Forcibly Touching Patient, Police Say
A 54-year-old physician assistant on Long Island was charged after police said he forcibly touched a 21-year-old woman during an examination. Kenneth Alessi, of Mattituck, was arrested at Sun River Health Care, his place of work, on Friday, Jan. 6, for an incident that happened in June, the Southampton Town Police Department reported. The health care center is located at 300 Center Drive in Riverside, police said. On June 15, Alessi examined a patient for rib pain and allegedly forcibly touched private parts of her body, authorities said. He was charged with forcible touchi…
Nassau
News
$31M Trip-Fall Fraud Scheme Results In Convictions For Plainview Attorney, Miller Place Doctor
An attorney and doctor have been convicted of defrauding New York businesses and their insurance companies of more than $31 million through a massive trip-and-fall fraud scheme. Following a three-week trial, a jury in Manhattan just convicted George Constantine, a lawyer, and Andrew Dowd, an orthopedic surgeon, for their participation in the scheme from 2013 and 2018. Both men live on Long Island -- the 60-year-old Constantine in Plainview, and the 67-year-old Dowd in Miller Place. The two were both found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, mail fraud, and w…
Bucks
Police & Fire
Bucks Doctor Who Overprescribed Opioids Learns His Fate
The Bucks County physician convicted of overprescribing opioids to patients will spend two to six years behind bars, a judge has ruled. Dr. Richard A. Kondan, 59, of Doylestown, previously pleaded no contest in March to charges of unlawful prescription of a controlled substance, said the Bucks County District Attorney's Office in a statement. According to prosecutors, Kondan failed to follow "accepted treatment principles" while prescribing highly-addictive painkillers to patients, and did not keep accurate medical records regarding his prescriptions. In some cases, …
Bucks
News
Former Drexel Neurology Chair Who Sexually Abused Patients Dies By Suicide In Jail: AP
Drexel University's former chairman of the neurology department convicted of sexually assaulting patients died by suicide in a New York City jail, sources tell the Associated Press. Dr. Ricardo Cruciani was found unresponsive in a shower area of the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island Monday, Aug. 18, the AP reports. The 68-year-old doctor's attorney confirmed that he died but not the manner of death. Cruciani, who was facing life in prison, allegedly got dozens of female patients hooked on painkillers he prescribed before sexually abusing them over the course of 15 years at area h…
Fort Lee
News
Palisades Park Woman, 73, Charged With Killing Baby
UPDATE: A 73-year-old Guatemalan national living in Palisades Park who was charged with the death of an 11-month-old baby allegedly had been treating people in the area for years -- including the dead infant's older brother. Elida Catalan-Medina was charged earlier this week with aggravated manslaughter and illegally practicing medicine for giving baby Genesis a fatal dose of magnesium, olive oil and water to treat constipation, court documents show. Enma Medina, 38, who lives across town, took the infant to Medina-Ramos's home last Dec. 7 because the infant was sick, according to an affida…
Suffolk NY
News
Former Long Island Doctor Sentenced For Causing OD Deaths Of Two Patients
A former doctor on Long Island who illegally sold oxycodone to two patients who suffered fatal overdose will spend decades in prison for distributing the drug. Merrick resident Michael Belfiore, age 58, who previously practiced osteopathic medicine in Nassau County, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for the illegal distribution of oxycodone that caused two deaths and for selling to an undercover detective. In addition to his prison sentence, Belfiore was also ordered to forfeit $7,270 in fees that he took from the two patients and undercover detective, and pay $17,000 in restitution based…
Nassau
News
Long Island Doctor Ordered To Pay $2.5M Verdict In Same-Day Hernia Surgery Discharge Case
The family of a woman who died after being negligently discharged the same day she underwent a hernia surgery won a multi-million dollar verdict in a Long Island malpractice suit. In February 2013, 68-year-old Margaret Parr received surgery to repair a hernia in her upper stomach, and was later discharged by her doctor on the same day, according to her Nassau County-based lawyers Duffy & Duffy, who have offices in Uniondale. Her lawyers said that after being released, Parr - who had two adult children and four grandchildren - died in pain the next day after a blood clot developed, cutti…
Monmouth
News
Jersey Shore Doc Admits Sexual Contact With Drug-Abusing Patient, Cuts Deal With State
A Monmouth County physician is having his license suspended for three years for "inappropriate sexual contact" with a substance-abusing patient for whom he also prescribed addictive drugs, state authorities said. Francis Rienzo, 60, of Sea Girt, is currently "winding down" his private practice as part of an agreement with the state through which he will avoid more serious consequences, they said. Rienzo, who also is the medical director for several treatment centers across New Jersey -- and a staff physician at Jersey Shore Addiction Services and Hackensack Meridian Health in Neptune -- "ad…
Hackensack
News
Doc Accused Of Reckless, Harmful Breast, Penile Enlargement Injections In NJ, NY, CT, PA
An internist with little formal training has been recklessly injecting a hazardous dermal filler into patients seeking breast and penis enhancements -- often with extremely harmful results -- at dozens of offices in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, authorities charged. Toting the product around in duffle bags, Dr. Muhammad A. Mirza of Cedar Grove has seen up to 30 patients a day in what some described as a “small storage closet” and “closet area with a bench,” Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Tuesday. Some patients said that Mirza didn't wear a mask…
Brookfield
News
Registered Nurse Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Patient In Connecticut
A Connecticut registered nurse has been accused of sexually assaulting a patient. The Hartford County resident, Steven Lamoureux, age 46, of Farmington, was arrested on Monday, Aug. 30 for one count of sexual assault following an investigation by Farmington Police. According to Farmington Police Lieutenant Tim McKenzie, Lamoureux had been the subject of a similar complaint in New Haven and police believe there could be other victims. An advanced practice registered nurse, Lamoureux, came under investigation after a complaint was filed in July for performing what he called a "relaxatio…
South Passaic
News
Clifton Ortho Doc Who State Said Freely Doled Out Opioids Permanently Barred From Practice
UPDATE: A Clifton orthopedic surgeon who prescribed addictive opioid painkillers to patients who abused, sold or otherwise didn't need them was permanently barred from practicing medicine or prescribing drugs in New Jersey, state authorities announced Monday. Evangelos Megariotis – who owned and operated Clifton Orthopedic Associates -- told one patient that "anything that drugs can do on the street, my medications will do better and safer,” state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. "Just call me,” Grewal quoted him as saying. Megariotis also treated patient complaints of hypertension…
Clarkstown
News
Woman Found She Was Impregnated By Doctor Thanks To DNA Of Daughter From Rockland, Lawsuit Says
A New Jersey woman filed a lawsuit against her OBGYN saying he impregnated her with his own sperm in the 1980s when she went in for artificial insemination and found out when her daughter, a Rockland resident, took an online DNA test last year. Bianca Voss, of Clifton, accuses Dr. Martin Greenberg of "medical rape" in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. "Defendant stood over Plaintiff with her legs spread in stirrups and inserted his own bodily fluids into her," says the suit, filed May 25. "Plaintiff would never have agreed to allow Defendant…
Hackensack
News
Seven Charged With Homicide In Death Of Soccer Great Diego Maradona
Authorities in Argentina have charged seven medical professionals in the death of soccer legend Diego Maradona. Maradona, considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time, died of a heart attack in Buenos Aires last November after undergoing surgery for a blood clot on his brain just two weeks earlier. He was 60. Family members’ concerns prompted an investigation that included a raid on the home and private clinic of neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, various news outlets reported. Then came the bombshell announcement that Luque and six others – including Maradona’s psychiatrist and two…
Bucks
Police & Fire
West Philadelphia Doc, 80, Charged In Patient's Cocaine, Oxy Overdose Death
A West Philadelphia doctor is facing involuntary manslaughter charges after he prescribed his patient a combination of opioids that resulted in an accidental overdose of cocaine, oxycodone, and morphine, authorities announced Wednesday. An investigation showed that Dr. Walter Wrenn, 80, fabricated the patient’s diagnosis in order for Keystone First to approve filling the prescribed medications, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. The patient’s opioid prescriptions far exceeded the recommended 90 milligrams per day, Shapiro said. On Keystone First’s authorization form, Dr. Wrenn s…
Englewood
News
‘Predator In White Coat’: Feds Seek Sex Abuse Victims Of
Obgyn
From Bergen
It seemed a plea deal with state prosecutors in New York would keep former gynecologist Robert Hadden of Englewood out of prison after he was accused of sexually abusing patients. Then the feds came knocking. FBI agents arrested Hadden, 62, at his home on Wednesday and brought him to U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where a grand jury indictment charges him with sexually abusing dozens of female patients, including minors, over nearly 20 years. Federal authorities are asking other alleged victims to come forward (see below). Hadden victimized patients “under the guise of conducting purpor…
Sussex
News
North Jersey Surgeon With Star-Studded Client List Faces Lawsuit For Botched Nose Job
A triple board certified North Jersey and NYC plastic surgeon who has a star-studded list of clients is facing a lawsuit for a botched a nose job intended to correct a breathing issue -- then forging documents, the New York Post reports. Arevik Khurdayan, who has a deviated septum, saw Dr. Ramtin Kassir to correct the breathing issues that resulted from the problem, The Post says. However, during the initial consultation, the Manhattan office convinced the 34-year-old patient to undergo a cosmetic nose job as well with a dual procedure called a septorhinoplasty, promising that the operatio…
Sussex
News
Medical Malpractice Suit Settled For $1.28M After Sussex County Woman's Cancer Death
A medical malpractice settlement of more than $1.2 million has been reached nearly four years after the cancer-related death of a Franklin woman, NJ.com reports. Dina Wyckoff, formerly of Pompton Lakes and Pequannock, died in August 2016 at the age of 34 following a battle with stage IV stomach cancer, her obituary says. A lawsuit was filed by her husband, Robert Wyckoff, approximately six months later, stating that numerous medical professionals failed to provide proper diagnosis and treatment, the NJ.com article says. The lawsuit settlement, which totals $1.28 million, was confirme…
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