huffingtonpost.co.uk on August 27, 2011 reported that a man is suing a hospital trust over his claims that medics twice put "do not resuscitate" orders on his wife's medical notes without her consent. David Tracey is taking legal action following the alleged use of the orders while his wife Janet was treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. Doctors cancelled the first order after she objected to it, only to then put on a second one, he claims. Care home manager Mrs Tracey, 63, had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer but died at the hospital 16 days after breaking her neck in a car accident, according to reports. Her widower is taking action against Cambridge University Hospitals NHS trust which is responsible for Addenbrooke's, and the Department of Health, which he claims have acted unlawfully by not having a standard policy on resuscitation decisions.

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reformer.com on August 26, 2011 reported that a well-known Brattleboro physician, Dr. John Bookwalter, a thoracic surgeon at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, is facing 67 counts of unprofessional conduct and could have his license suspended or revoked by the Vermont Board of Medical Practice if found guilty. "This is a matter of procedure and not of patient care," Bookwalter told the Reformer on Thursday. "No patient was harmed in any way and no patient ever complained." Bookwalter allegedly wrote prescriptions to himself and to four members of his family, according to documents filed with the Vermont Board of Medical Practice. He also allegedly improperly prescribed medications, failed to take or record vital signs when prescribing drugs to his patients, and failed to order or record laboratory tests while treating some of his patients, records show.

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ocregister.com on August 29, 2011 reported that another Orange County Kaiser Permanente doctor faces state medical board discipline for allegedly failing to promptly report sexual abuse of patients. Dr. Edward Ellison, area medical director for Kaiser, is accused in board legal documents of not notifying the state of disciplinary action taken against Dr. David Hung Do within 15 days as required by law. Do faces criminal charges of sexual battery. His medical license was revoked in April.

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journallive.co.uk on August 30, 2011 reported that a trusted pharmacist has been suspended after he defrauded health chiefs out of more than £25,000 by duping his bosses into signing cheques to fund a website. Syed Nadeem Hussain Shah, 42, of Merley Gate, Morpeth, billed Northumberland Care Trust for thousands of pounds after saying he would set up an online pharmaceutical forum. But after he was made redundant in 2007, invoices were found in his office that sparked an investigation by Northumbria Police, the trust’s Local Counter Fraud Specialist and the NHS Counter Fraud Service. They discovered that two years before he took up his position as the trust’s head of medicine and lead pharmacist, Shah started to design an online information hub, which became known as “Spider”.

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montrealgazette.com on August 29, 2011 reported that Taiwan's health authorities said Sunday they are investigating a case of "critical medical negligence" that led to five patients receiving organs from an HIV positive donor. "The National Taiwan University Hospital is required to come up with a detailed report before the end of Tuesday," Wang Je-chau, a spokesman for the Department of Health, told AFP, referring to the hospital where four of the five transplant operations were performed on Thursday. The family of a 38-year-old man, surnamed Chiu, decided to donate his organs after he fell to his death in northern Hsinchu city last week. Medical technicians performing standard blood tests found that Chiu was HIV positive before his liver, lungs and kidneys were transplanted.

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setexasrecord.com on August 29, 2011 reported that Doris B. McKnight has filed suit against Signature Gulf Coast Hospital and Dr. Cynthia M. Ripsin over the 2009 death of her husband, Jimmie B. McKnight, from bilateral pneumonia. According to a lawsuit filed Aug. 17 in Galveston County District Court, the defendants provided improper care and treatment to Jimmie McKnight which led to his death on the night of June 10, 2009. Court papers show Jimmie B. McKnight went to the emergency department of Gulf Coast Medical Center on June 9, 2009, with complaints about breathing and associated respiratory problems.

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timesofindia.com on August 30, 2011 reported that four more doctors' registration has been suspended after a court framed charges against them for their alleged involvement in sex determination. The Rajasthan Medical Council suspended the registration of the doctors after the court framed charges against them, health minister A A Khan said here on Monday. Soon after the provisional census 2011 revealed that the state's sex ratio is on the decline, the medical and health department swung into action and started conducting raids on sonography centres. So far, six registrations of doctors have been suspended after the raids.

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jacksonville.com on August 30, 2011 reported that a gun-toting, bail-jumping former Alma doctor plans to plead guilty to federal firearms charges in Colorado next month in an agreement unlikely to include his potential sentence on a pill mill-related charge in Southeast Georgia. William Morris Williams, 71, is jailed without bail in Durango on single counts of possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm by a fugitive. Each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000. Williams is scheduled to plead guilty Sept. 27 during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Marcia S. Krieger, who has set his sentencing for Dec. 19 in U.S. District Court in Denver, court documents showed.

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tampabay.com on August 29, 2011 reported that the widow of a prominent Tampa Bay area businessman recently sued Clearwater's Morton Plant Hospital, independent contractor Bay Area Emergency Physicians and the BAEP-affiliated emergency room doctor who treated her husband for chest pains after sending him home and declaring a "diagnosis of unknown chest pain and indigestion." Hours later, George A. Knutsson died at home from an apparent heart attack. He was 71. That happened in July 2009, The lawsuit, which seeks damages, was filed this month by Knutsson's widow, Margaret Knutsson, claiming the ER doctor and an unnamed nurse were negligent. She is represented by the medical malpractice law firm of Eaton & Tirella in Tampa.

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telegraphindia.com on August 29, 2011 reported that an orthopaedist of the district hospital here has been suspended after the severed limbs of a train accident victim were found on the bed which the patient had been allotted at the time of admission. The suspension comes on a day a team set up by the district chief medical officer of health to investigate a newborn’s death at the same hospital recommended that the body be exhumed to find out if ant bites had killed the infant. Parents of the newborn had alleged that the baby died of ant bites. Police said the body would be exhumed from the banks of the Behula in Old Malda in the presence of a magistrate and handed over to the hospital authorities.

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nwcn.com on August 29, 2011 reported that a Seattle doctor accused of killing his partner and son pleaded not guilty Monday morning. Dr. Louis Chen is charged with two counts of Aggravated Murder in the First Degree, a charge that carries a sentence of life imprisonment without release, or the death penalty. According to court records, Doctor Louis Chen admitted to stabbing Eric Cooper, 29, and their two-year-old son at their First Hill apartment. Documents say Cooper was stabbed more than 100 times in the face, neck, chest, back and hands. The child had numerous cuts to his neck.

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focustaiwan.tw on August 26, 2011 reported that a doctor and medical staffers at the Chest Hospital in Tainan were interrogated Friday for allegedly seeking insurance reimbursement for treating tuberculosis (TB) patients even though the TB patients did not stay long-term at the hospital, prosecutors said. Tainan and Yunlin district prosecutors, along with Tainan and Yunlin police officials, raided the Chest Hospital under the Cabinet-level Department of Health in Tainan Friday and seized the medical charts of 22 TB patients.

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theday.com on August 26, 2011 reported that Stonington pediatrician Todd M. Parrilla has been released on a $500,000 bond, but will be confined to his home while his child pornography case is pending and will be unable to practice medicine or have access to children under 18. Parrilla, 47, was charged earlier this week with possession and distribution of child pornography after an undercover Internet investigation led agents to his home at 40 Pellegrino Road.

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timesunion.com on August 25, 2011 reported that another nurse admitted to charges Thursday that she did not provide proper care for an incapacitated patient at the Northwoods Rehabilitation Center in Schaghticoke two years ago. Licensed practical nurse Lisa Sousie of Troy appeared before Rensselaer County Judge Andrew Ceresia and pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree falsification of business records, a misdemeanor. Sousie will be sentenced Oct. 12 to three years of probation, suspension of her nursing license, and she must cooperate and provide testimony in any potential upcoming trial in the case, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

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telegraph.co.uk on August 27, 2011 reported that Steven Bradshaw, 33, claimed to be a single man as he embarked on a passionate eight month affair with a colleague at the Civil Aviation Authority. The amateur pilot whisked her to Paris in his private plane, discussed marriage, and began planning a £3,600 break to Mauritius, the General Medical Council heard. But their relationship soured when the woman, referred to only as Miss A, became suspicious and challenged him over his wife, who he had only married a year earlier. Bradshaw told her his marriage was in tatters and he was consulting divorce lawyers while he was still living in the family home.

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edition.cnn.com on August 26, 2011 reported that a Delaware pediatrician accused of molesting more than 100 of his patients was sentenced Friday to serve his lifetime in prison. Earl Bradley, whose practice was in Lewes, was given the maximum sentence of 14 life terms, plus 164 years in prison without the possibility of parole, according to a statement from the office of state Attorney General Beau Biden. He originally had faced 529 counts of rape, sexual exploitation of a child, unlawful sexual contact and other charges. In June, he was found guilty of 24 counts.

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birminghammail.net on August 29, 2011 reported that the Highly-respected senior Birmingham dentist has admitted defrauding the NHS to feed his addiction to a heroin-type drug. Shamed Iranian-born consultant and lecturer Behnam Aghabeigi, known as Ben, could now face being struck off or even jailed for the dishonesty. The dad-of-three, of Hagley Road, Edgbaston, who is a clinical fellow with prestigious Harvard School of Dental Medicine in America, is being prosecuted after an investigation by an NHS fraud team and is also awaiting a professional conduct hearing by the General Dental Council (GDC). Aghabeigi, a former oral surgeon and training director at Birmingham Dental Hospital and a dentist and educational director at Edgbaston’s Tatum Clinic and Institute, pleaded guilty to 12 charges of fraud at Birmingham magistrates’ court this month.

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