Here are 11 allegations, lawsuits or charges against physicians reported on by Becker's since Nov. 3:
- The Iowa Board of Medicine suspended the license of emergency room physician Maman Ali, MD, who allegedly was under the influence of narcotics while treating patients. Dr. Ali then admitted to the hospital's chief medical officer that he had been self-administering drugs by injecting them into his neck over the past several months. In November, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services charged Dr. Ali with continuing to practice medicine under suspension, alleging he wrote nine new prescriptions for one patient after his suspension took effect.
- Terry Friedman, OD, of Kendall, Fla., was ordered to pay $7,882 by the state's board of optometry after a patient he treated went blind. Dr. Friedman did not confirm or deny the allegations that stated he failed at early detection of the patient's glaucoma that caused him to go blind. The patient, who had been seeing Dr. Friedman since 2001, filed a lawsuit for medical malpractice, which has been settled.
- Doylestown, Pa.-based Richard Alan Kondan, DO, was sentenced to two to six years in prison for unlawful prescription of opioids. An investigation found that Dr. Kondan increased dosages of oxycodone without appropriate medical justification and frequently authorized refills without physician examinations. Additionally, he regularly prescribed dangerous combinations of oxycodone and other prescription medication.
- Co-workers of anesthesiologist Raynaldo Ortiz Jr., MD, who allegedly injected heart-stopping drugs into IV bags at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas, testified to federal investigators that they were "terrified" of him. Dr. Ortiz allegedly injected IV bags with bupivacaine, epinephrine and lidocaine, which caused almost a dozen patients to experience unexpected cardiac emergencies.
- A suit was filed against UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest, Calif., that accused Bradley Hay, MD, an anesthesiologist, and Gerard Manecke Jr., MD, former chief of anesthesiology, and others of not giving a patient enough anesthesia and then falsifying official medical records. The suit also targets anesthesiology nurse Tammy Nodler, CRNA, RN, and the University of California regents, contending that Dr. Hay and Ms. Nodler falsified medical records to look as though the patient had been given enough anesthesia and that the health system covered up Dr. Hay's history of drug abuse.
- Salt Lake City-based ophthalmologist Paul Wyatt, MD, is facing criminal charges for allegedly performing surgeries with a suspended license, leaving one patient blind. Dr. Wyatt reportedly performed at least seven eye surgeries in 2018 after his license was suspended in 2016. Each of the surgeries allegedly left victims with permanent or severe eye injuries.
- Waterbury, Conn.-based physician Philip Mongelluzzo Jr., MD, was fined $10,000 for inappropriately prescribing high narcotics doses to patients. The Connecticut Medical Examining Board ruled that from 2014 and 2018, Dr. Mongelluzzo did not appropriately treat a patient's chronic pain and prescribed narcotics without documenting the therapeutic reasons for the drugs. Dr. Mongelluzzo also allegedly prescribed sedatives to the patient without limits.
- A patient died at a plastic surgery center in Plantation, Fla., after Millicent Muir, MD, an OB-GYN, was used as an unlicensed anesthesiologist. An inspection found that Dr. Muir was providing anesthesia for level 2 surgeries, though she is not licensed to do so.
- Boston-based Tufts Medical Center has fired an anesthesiologist after he was arrested for attempted sex trafficking in a federal operation. Sadeq Ali Quraishi, MD, was arrested Nov. 2 after he attempted to pay for sex with a teenager at a hotel.
- Scott Hollington, MD, a Florida physician, is under investigation again for allegations of sexual assault against multiple patients. Dr. Hollington was previously under scrutiny for allegedly distributing medication in exchange for sexual favors.
- Brookfield, Wis.-based pediatrician Manuel Thomas was sentenced to 18 months in prison for unlawfully distributing controlled substances. Dr. Thomas provided opiates to patients he knew were addicted to controlled substances in exchange for cash and pills for personal use.