A woman who says she had to forgo cancer treatment because of botched surgery by a California doctor says she was never made aware the doctor was being treated for alcoholism and had been convicted for driving under the influence of alcohol. Becky Anderson received a breast reconstruction from Dr. Brian West, a California plastic surgeon, in September 2000. Becky, who was suffering from breast cancer, says she had to forgo cancer treatment while battling complications from West’s surgery. Now she is dying of cancer. She had no idea when she let West treat her that he had been convicted for driving under the influence in 1987 and had been arrested for a second DUI, for which he was later convicted, while on the way to treat her. She claims he lied about the DUI, blaming a missed appointment with her on a car accident. She sued the doctor for negligence and medical malpractice. He never admitted fault, but settled with her for $250,000. West is an alcoholic, according to a Medical Board of California decision, and a member of the state’s Physician Diversion Program. The program keeps the doctors’ identities private, so it allowed him to continue to treat patients, even operate on them, while he was secretly getting treatment for his addiction. In California, the state medical association says there are between 200 and 400 doctors in the diversion program on any given day. A study by the Federation of State Physician Health Programs found about one percent of all physicians practicing in the United States are in confidential treatment. That’s about 8,000 doctors whose patients may have no idea they are addicts.
Please click on the link below to read the CNN.com article:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/31/kaye.addicteddoctors/index.html
For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.
