Six Korean-American doctors in Southern California were either sued or have already been punished by the Medical Board of California (MBC) between October last year and this past March.
The MBC listed that two Korean doctors in L.A., and one in each of Redlands, Newport Beach, Long Beach and Tustin were subject to punishment.
The reasons behind their punishments were primary due to incorrect diagnoses, poorly managed medical records and performing surgeries without proper facility permits. Some were banned for DUI. Those doctors were mostly working in pediatrics, internal medicine and general surgery.
One of the punished doctors (license No. A37514) was put on probation from March 3 for three years. A pediatrics doctor in Long Beach, he did not keep a proper record of a 12-year-old patient who visited him with a thigh injury in April 2008. The patient eventually passed away in 2012 after suffering a complication of various diseases.
Another doctor (license No. A77852), based in Redlands, was banned from working for 35 months from Nov. 30, 2016. While diagnosing a patient who was looking to get a liposuction, the doctor did not keep a record of the patient and performed illegal surgeries without properly permitted facilities.
A Tustin-based doctors (license No. C52205) also performed a liposuction in June 2010, but was sued last June by the patient. The patient is claiming that the doctor never tested to ensure no health risks and that medical records were not filed properly. The facilities were also not approved by the government.
There is another doctor with license No. A4177 who crashed his car on Mariposa and Sixth in January last year. He was then put on probation for three years. He was later sued for committing improper behavior as someone who is playing a role in the medical field. The punishment will be confirmed after a hearing.
A Newport Beach-based doctor (license No. G84650) was also sued recently for not informing the patients about their health conditions, such as problems that occurred due to spine and back surgeries.
Another doctor working in both L.A. and Riverside (license No. G70147) failed to keep proper medical records after performing various colonoscopy and endoscope tests. He received a public reprimand starting March 10.
Records of doctors in California can be viewed in detail on the MBC’s website (http://www.mbc.ca.gov/Consumers/).
By ByongIl Kim
