The Times of India on February 25, 2011 reported that Contaminated intravenous fluid has killed at least 12 pregnant women at Jodhpur’s government-run Umaid Hospital in the last 10 days, according to hospital and police sources. Four more women were in a serious condition and had to be put on ventilators on Thursday. The hospital administration lodged a criminal case against the IV fluid manufacturer, Parental Surgical India Pvt Ltd (Indore), and the local distributor, Anshul Pharma, on Thursday as the deaths were attributed to the IV fluid. Jodhpur police have booked the two companies under IPC Section 328 (putting a person’s life under threat) and seized the unused bottles of the fluid.

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illawarramercury.com.au on February 25, 2011 reported that a former Dapto doctor accused of indecently assaulting more than a dozen female patients is now facing 50 charges after 27 additional counts were added this week. Mohammed Mofizur Rahman, 43, appeared in Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday, charged with 22 counts of aggravated indecent assault of women in his care and one charge of aggravated sexual assault, alleging he had intercourse with a patient. Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor Fleur Sullivan told the court additional charges had been filed against the doctor on Wednesday, adding two counts of indecent assault, two counts of indecent assault against a person under the age of 16, and 23 charges of assault with an act of indecency.

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turnto10.com on February 24, 2011 reported that the state Department of Health on Thursday suspended a doctor who police said was drunk when he crashed his Jeep into a liquor store. Joseph Grillo, 52, of Barrington, was arrested and charged on Feb. 16 after driving his Jeep through the entryway of Country Liquors in Seekonk. Surveillance video from the store showed Grillo trying to reach a beer after driving through the store. When he couldn’t, he got back into his car and drove off. An officer, who happened to be in the area and heard the crash, saw a damaged Jeep dragging a plastic object.

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newsworks.org on February 24, 2011 reported that a Philadelphia radiation oncologist was banned this week from performing most therapies that use radioactive materials. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that Dr. Gary Kao performed the vast majority of his prostate brachytherapy procedures incorrectly while he was working at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center between 2002 and 2003. The errors in the common cancer treatment involved misplacing iodine tablets meant to be inserted into the prostate.

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seattlepi.com on February 23, 2011 reported that a former Rainier Beach drug counselor convicted of dealing prescription painkillers was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison. Arrested in December 2009, Rainier Beach drug and alcohol intervention specialist Robert Henry Smith and a second man faced a federal indictment on allegations that they sold oxycodone to a police informant. Smith was convicted after a three-day trial on six counts related to a series of pain killer sales. He was not accused of dealing drugs to students, just other addicts and dealers. According to court documents, Seattle police launched an investigation into Smith after a confidential informant came forward with the allegations. The informant – who avoided prosecution on other drug offenses by working with police – said Smith was dealing oxycodone, sometimes sold as OxyContin and Percocet.

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richmondregister.com on February 24, 2011 reported that a Madison County doctor accused of sexual misconduct, over-prescribing medication and poor record-keeping has been placed on probation for five years by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure. Dr. Jon M. Strauss, a family doctor who has offices in Richmond and in Berea, was placed on probation after several allegations against him were investigated by the licensure board. Several witnesses testified in an administrative hearing on May 27, 2010. The licensure board’s hearing officer found Strauss guilty of some of the violations set forth against him in a complaint, including sexual contact with patients.

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ocala.com on February 24, 2011 reported that a wrongful death/medical malpractice lawsuit filed against a Hernando County hospital over a Sheriff’s deputy’s shooting death in 2004 won’t head to trial until late October in Marion County. Cherie Litz, of Ocala, is suing Springbrook Hospital and one of its psychiatrists for discharging patient Ivan Gotham without notifying his family members or preparing an aftercare plan. Gotham, who suffered from senile dementia, fatally shot her husband, Deputy Brian Litz, on Feb. 7, 2004, as the officer was conducting a well-being check.

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middletowntranscript.com on February 23, 2011 reported that Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden today asked the state’s Board of Medical Licensing and Discipline to suspend the licenses of two physicians who worked with Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelpia abortion doctor charged with killing a woman who was under his care and maintaining what has been described as a greusome house of horrors within the walls of his clinic. The Delaware doctors worked in Gosnell’s practice, Atlantic Women’s Medical Services, which has offices in Wilmington and Dover. Biden asked for the suspensions of Dr. Albert Dworkin and Dr. Arturo Apolinario.

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toronto.ctv.ca on February 23, 2011 reported that two Toronto-area doctors charged in connection with a sexual assault at a downtown hotel earlier this month have been released on bail. Dr. Amitabh Chauhan and Dr. Suganthan Kayilasanathan, both 32, have been accused of gang sexual assault, as well as administering a noxious substance. They were released on $100,000 bail each on Wednesday and are due back in court tomorrow. The charges were laid after a 23-year-old woman told police she met two men at a Toronto bar on Feb. 13. She says something was slipped in her drink and she was then sexually assaulted in a Toronto hotel.

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knoxnews.com on February 23, 2011 reported that a Knoxville doctor admitted he ripped off the Tenncare and Medicare health care programs by billing face-to-face visits for patients he never saw. Dr. Allen R. Foster pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to charges of health care fraud and failing to file an income tax return. Foster operated pain clinics in Morristown and on East Woodland Avenue in Knoxville. According to documents, Foster crafted what he termed a ‘fast-track system’ for established patients.

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independent.ie on February 24, 2011 reported that the High Court has approved an award of €4.75m to a girl who suffered “devastating and permanent injuries” due to alleged medical negligence after she was born. Jade Keane was born at the National Maternity Hospital (NMH), Holles Street, Dublin, on March 21, 2001. As a result of an alleged failure to treat her, she was left with hydrocephalus, also known as “water on the brain”. As a result, she is blind, wheelchair-bound, and will require care for the rest of her life.

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nytimes.com on February 23, 2011 reported that Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other law enforcement officials on Wednesday raided six South Florida pain clinics accused of illegally dispensing potent prescription drugs across the United States. Twenty-two people, including five doctors, were arrested on state and federal drug trafficking charges. The one-year undercover inquiry, dubbed Operation Pill Nation, focused on storefront clinics in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties that the authorities say have become a national clearinghouse for illegal prescription drugs and highly addictive painkillers like oxycodone.

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chicagotribune.com on February 22, 2011 reported that Lake County Coroner Richard Keller resigned today after pleading guilty to two felony charges stemming from an investigation of a death at a methadone clinic. Keller showed no emotion as he appeared in a Lake County courtroom this afternoon, speaking only when he entered a plea of guilty to unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and obstruction of justice. Under a plea deal, Keller will avoid jail time if he meets the terms of his two-year probation. As part of the deal, Keller will relinquish his license to practice medicine for five years but can apply after that to have his license reinstated. He also must perform 100 hours of community service and pay fines and fees, including a $2,000 donation to CrimeStoppers.

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frenchtribune.com on February 23, 2011 reported that a senior medical consultant Dr. Jonathan Burn has been sentenced to three years probation by B. C. Provincial Court in Victoria. Dr. Burn has been working as a general practitioner in Abbotsford. He was accused of corruption as he offered bribes to health officials to get more medical contracts. According to the official statement which was read in B. C. Provincial Court in Victoria, Dr. Jonathan Burn had formed a software developing company called WebMed in the year 2001 when he was working as an emergency room physician in Abbotsford.

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kuam.com on February 23, 2011 reported that the Guam Board of Medical Examiners will present allegations against hospital surgeon Dr. Glenn Cunningham to its Disciplinary Committee. According to board chair Dr. Joan Gill, the board was never made aware of the allegations against Cunningham, which resulted in a $300,000 settlement with Jeff and Charl’e Fain. Hospital officials have said that a medical review was conducted and there was a determination of no negligence but the matter was settled at the recommendation of the Guam Memorial Hospital’s legal counsel.

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The Times of India on February 23, 2011 reported that In a one of its kind conviction for wrong sex determination and illegal termination of pregnancy in this part of Punjab, which is already infamous for its skewed sex ratio, a court in Faridkot on Tuesday sentenced two doctors of the town to two years of imprisonment for indulging in illegal abortion. Interestingly in this case, both the guilty doctors helped in the termination of a three-month-old foetus, deeming it to be female, but after the abortion the foetus was found to be male. The ‘wrong’ sex determination and its termination led to a lot of protest and uproar by the same family which went for abortion thinking the foetus was of a female. The case against the doctors, Manveer Kumar and Raminder, was filed after the health department submitted a complaint in the court.

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ibnlive.in.com on February 23, 2011 reported that The Food and Drug Administration has begun to investigate the quality of drugs purchased by Lilavati Hospital, just days after CNN-IBN exposed money-laundering at the hospital. CNN-IBN, in its report, had shown that Lilavati Hospital sourced medicines from 400 small individual medical stores, 250 of which are located in the slums of Dharavi. Prabodh Kiritilal Mehta and Rashmi Kiritilal Mehta – exposed recently by CNN-IBN – figure in a list of people being investigated by the Government for allegedly having black money accounts overseas. The Mehta brothers own the Socalo Stiftung trust in Liechtenstein’s LGT Bank.

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