This weekly roundup features arrests, criminal proceedings, and other reports alleging improper or questionable conduct by healthcare professionals.
A family medicine specialist in California was arrested on gun and drug charges after police got word he was . Riverside police said that Keith Curtis, DO, the 52-year-old physician, was in possession of three bags of methamphetamine, and that they found a shotgun and a pipe used for illegal drugs at his office. The doctor reportedly told detectives that he used illegal narcotics while running his medical practice. (CBS Los Angeles)
"No merit ... we will defend our position vigorously." That's how Mount Carmel Health System filed by William Husel, DO, who said he was falsely accused of intentionally killing 25 patients. Husel was fired by the Ohio health system in 2018 after allegedly ordering lethal doses of fentanyl for over two dozen patients, some of whom were terminally ill. (WBNS)
Also in Ohio, a doctor running an alleged "pill mill" was indicted on 145 counts that included unlawfully causing two patient deaths, and healthcare fraud. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Martin Escobar, MD, made up diagnoses for his patients and then prescribed them hydrocodone and oxycodone, often in combination with stimulants or benzodiazepines. DOJ said the internist fabricated the pain scales on patients' charts, claimed he performed physical exams when he hadn't, and ignored urine test results.
Utah's Supreme Court cleared the path for against a Salt Lake City cardiologist who allegedly performed unnecessary heart surgeries over the past decade. In three separate suits, which exceeded state time limits for medical malpractice, Sherman Sorensen, MD, was accused of performing patent foramen ovale and atrial septal defect closures to reduce the risk of stroke in patients that had no conditions that would necessitate these procedures. The court "ruled that a fraud allegation suspended" these malpractice limits. (Cardiovascular Business)
A Connecticut surgeon, Guiseppi Tripodi, MD, was arrested and charged with the at his medical practice, following reports that he was groping his assistant, among other allegations. The physician was also accused of slapping the woman after she refused an advance and grabbing her neck after she dropped a tool while they prepped for a procedure. (Legal Herald)