Is your doctor under investigation? | Examining the CA Medical Board and its discipline of doctors

A licensed midwife crashed into two cars in Vista while drunk with her 6-month-old and 20-month-old babies inside her car. Despite her saying she had a single Bud Light that afternoon, a blood sample taken later that day showed her a .11 percent blood alcohol level. 

The Medical Board allowed her to keep her license and she is still in practice.

A Chula Vista cosmetic surgeon failed to hire an anesthesiologist during a breast augmentation surgery of a 36-year-old mother of two. The woman's heart stopped during the surgery. Instead of calling 911, the cosmetic surgeon called two other physicians for help. More than three hours later, investigators say he called 911. It was too late. The mother, Megan Espinoza, was past the point of treatment and later died. In December of last year, the doctor agreed to pay the family $1 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

Despite the District Attorney filing manslaughter charges against him, he has been allowed to continue to practice medicine at his Bonita clinic.

A Chula Vista labor and delivery doctor is now under investigation for accusations that he was negligent in treating pregnant mothers. That negligence, according to the California Medical Board resulted in a stillbirth as well as two separate injuries where the mother and the newborn were seriously hurt. One instance, according to the accusation, a baby suffered numerous lacerations during a cesarean section.

Read the doctor's notes, "Infant laceration (multiple) noted on left buttocks. Multiple in different directions. One consistent with intraoperative laceration noted at the time of Uterotomy [incision of the uterus]. The others are likely from vaginal exam in clinic when patient was presented with suspected [spontaneous rupture of membranes] earlier in the day."

The doctor, who gained notoriety from appearing on the CBS reality show, The Amazing Race, is currently practicing. 

The three unrelated examples are a small sampling of hundreds of complaints against local doctors that the Medical Board has investigated and in many cases sustained. 

However, despite the board's investigations, 98 percent of the time, the doctors are allowed to keep their licenses, only facing insignificant fines of a few thousand dollars and getting placed on probation.

Patients' rights advocates, as well as one of the Medical Board's own members, say the system is rigged to support doctors and not ensure patient safety.

Delayed investigations

CBS 8 scoured medical board records that dated back several years.

The records reveal that in some instances, the medical board could take as long as seven years from receiving the complaint to the eventual decision on whether to discipline the doctor or medical professional in question. 

California law gives the Medical Board three years to file a formal accusation against a licensed medical provider from when it first discovers potential negligence or medical misconduct.

It typically takes at least another year for the board to hold hearings and give the doctor a chance to defend themselves before a final decision is made. 

According to documents obtained by CBS 8, more often than not, the discipline ends in the board placing the doctor on probation or "publicly reprimanding" the doctor. 

In 2022, of the nearly 10,000 complaints, the Medical Board found 211 California doctors of committing "gross negligence" or guilty of "incompetence." Of those 211 doctors, 163 were either placed on probation or the board issued a "public reprimand." The 48 others were forced to surrender their licenses or the board revoked them.

For all of 2022, the most recent data currently available, the board disciplined 438 doctors throughout California for a variety of charges including negligence, sexual misconduct, substance abuse, unprofessional conduct, as well as other violations. Of those 438 actions, 296 resulted in probation or public reprimand.

Marian Hollingsworth became a Medical Board expert the hard way; after she says doctors repeatedly overprescribed her 86-year-old father and then changed his medical records in an effort to hide the fact. 

Hollingsworth has since advocated for change inside the Medical Board and the way it does investigations.

She tells CBS 8 that she wants accountability and demands the board stop siding with doctors and start looking out more for the patients that could possibly be at risk of injury, or in some cases death. 

"Patients have the right to know," says Hollingsworth. "They should know all risks and that includes whether your doctor is on probation or if there are accusations that they have substance abuse issues."

Hollinsworth has traveled the state to attend medical board meetings. While there she has advocated for changes to the system. 

She only wants patients to be informed as much as possible, something she wished would have been the case with her dad.

Hollingsworth is demanding that the board change its policies in order to improve transparency, allow easier access for patients to find out about their physicians, and that the medical board stop granting probation and start pulling licenses from doctors who were negligent, guilty of misconduct, and those suffering from substance abuse.

"A doctor can be on probation for sexual misconduct. Let's say a patient knows that and still decides that they are the best doctor or surgeon. That is their choice. That is a personal thing. It's all about choice," added Hollingsworth.

However, Hollingsworth says a lot of work needs to be done to get to that point. 

In order for patients to make informed decisions, she says the board needs to make sure that patients are aware of current investigations prior to the board submitting formal accusations.

"There's no net, you expect the medical board to be the net, you expect that if a doctor is licensed by the medical board, they are safe to practice," says Hollingsworth. "You assume by looking on a doctor's profile page on the Medical Board website, that they're good to go. But what you don't know is that they could be under investigation. If a doctor is under investigation, that won't show until an accusation is filed."

Medical Board member Eserick "TJ" Watkins agrees.

Watkins is lobbying the medical board from the inside. Watkins says he and his supporters say they have shown, "time and time again" that the board appears more willing to protect doctors than protect patients.

CBS 8 caught up with Watkins as he was traveling in South Africa. Watkins confirmed that putting doctors above patients needs to stop.

Watkins filed a whistleblower complaint against the board and during a meeting in early December, he proposed they adopt a 14-point accountability plan, which includes legislative changes to strengthen patient's rights.

The board refused.

Attorney Dave Rosenberg has represented doctors who faced accusations from the medical board for over 42 years.

Rosenberg agrees that the system needs to change, however, he says more needs to be done to protect the doctors from meritless charges lobbied against them, charges that can ruin their practice and their livelihood.

"I have represented doctors for over 40 years and have seen investigations run the gambit, from very thorough and without many errors to others that just get it flat-out wrong. Investigators miss things, experts miss things," says Rosenberg.

Rosenberg says that when doctors are wrongly accused or when the accusation is without merit, the doctors are the ones who suffer. All the more reason, says Rosenberg, for the accusations to remain sealed until after the board holds a thorough hearing.

"They could never have had any prior accusations and cared for thousands and thousands of patients, but one public accusation against them can mar their entire careers. Medical Board accusations are so often haphazardly filed. The accusations can destroy a doctor's career without letting the doctors defend themselves for nearly a year after the accusation is made public. That is why these investigations should be kept private until a hearing is held and until the administrative law judge makes a ruling. If not these investigations can ruin a person’s career."

A spokesperson for the California Medical Board says its main priority is to ensure patient safety.

"The Medical Board of California’s mission is consumer protection, and it takes that mission very seriously," says board spokesperson, Carlos Villatoro.

At the same time, however, Villatoro says the board needs to ensure that doctors who face accusations are granted due process and a chance to defend themselves against the allegations that are lodged against them.

Adds Villatoro, "The law affords accused physicians due process. Each case must be reviewed on individual merits and each cause of action must be proven by clear and convincing evidence. When the Board files an accusation, it has not yet proven its case and the administrative law judges and the Board’s disciplinary panels must consider the information and evidence before them, including evidence of mitigating circumstances and rehabilitation."

Villatoro also says the board is currently asking lawmakers to change the current law to speed up investigations by granting board members authority to inspect medical records. The California Medical Board is also looking to prevent doctors from delaying records and force them to appear for interviews in a more timely manner. 

So, just how can patients learn more about their doctors and what disciplinary actions, if any, they have had against them?

• First, patients can look up their doctors by name on the California Medical Board website. It may be a good idea to ask for your doctor's license number and look it up to ensure that the spelling is not a factor.
• Consider downloading the Medical Board App for iPhone users. The app will allow you to look up your doctor's name and license from your smartphone.
• Villatoro from the medical board also encourages consumers to follow the Medical Board on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on any new releases and see if a new accusation is filed against your doctor.
• Patients can also ask around and look for online reviews or articles about your doctor.
• You can always ask your doctor directly if they are under investigation, however, Villatoro says they are not obligated to inform them that they are under investigation by the Medical Board or any other entity.

For Hollingsworth, while the resources are a step in the right direction, more needs to be done.

"I want to have as many good doctors as we can get because we need that. But we need doctors we can trust we need a system we can trust that the people who are treating us are safe, do not have a disciplinary history, and are going to listen to us when we have our issues."

Click here for a more detailed step-by-step look at how to search to find out if your doctor is under investigation or has been disciplined by the medical board.