Doctor reprimanded for secretly sterilizing patient
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From: rpautrey2 on 8 Aug 2008 17:39 Doctor reprimanded for secretly sterilizing patient August 08, 2008 The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette says a doctor was reprimanded yesterday after admitting that she secretly sterilized a patient while performing a Caesarean section last year in Berryville, Ark. Dr. Shirolyn Ruth Moffett told the Arkansas State Medical Board "she performed the tubal ligation a form of birth control in which the fallopian tubes are surgically cut or blocked to prevent pregnancy because she feared the lining of the patients uterus would burst if she got pregnant again," according to the paper. Moffett didn't tell the patient, nor did she note the procedure on her medical chart. "I know now that was a mistake," she told regulators, according to the Associated Press. "I had not made this kind of error my whole medical career. I was appalled." Under yesterday's 6-5 ruling, Moffett gets to keep her medical license. Officials at St. John's Hospital kept Moffett from seeing patients after they learned about the unauthorized sterilization. In a statement, spokesman Michael Peters says they're "surprised" by the Board's decision. St. John's Hospital - Berryville acted in patients' best interest in revoking the physician's privileges when we learned of the unauthorized procedure, and we stand by that decision. We are surprised at the board's decision today, and we want to assure our patients that we take their care very seriously and will always act appropriately in reviewing their concerns. The Democrat-Gazette says Board officials were less than forthcoming when reporters asked for more information about the case. Bill Trice, the Board's lawyer, "said he did not know the patients age and refused to search for the information in a box of medical records beside him," the paper says. Posted by Mike Carney at 12:06 PM/ET, August 08, 2008 in Health/ Science © Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/08/doctor-receives.html |