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Negligence claims go to medical board
Doctor's license on the line amid allegations of endangering patient
| Tuesday, Jul 17 2007 10:10 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Jul 17 2007 10:26 PM
The state medical board is seeking to revoke or suspend a local physician's license after her patient was not admitted to the hospital promptly and developed blood poisoning.
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The state attorney general, on behalf of the medical board, says Dr. Degrasia Anne Howard committed multiple acts of gross negligence, in a report filed June 15.
Howard could not be reached for comment.
"We will be cooperating fully with the medical board, but we are defending Dr. Howard in this case," said Cristy Cortez-Sackrider, spokeswoman for Bakersfield's Kaiser Permanente, for which Howard works. Cortez-Sackrider wouldn't comment on the specifics of the case.
On April 9, 2005, Howard saw the female patient, identified as "K.Z.," in the medical board filing, and noted the patient had abdominal pain, bloating, loose stools and bleeding for five weeks.
After looking at stool samples, a colonoscopy and biopsies, Howard determined the patient was probably suffering from ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease that affects the large intestine and rectum, the medical board's report says.
The patient did not respond to medication and during the next three to four weeks continued to have bloody stools and as many as 30 bowel movements a day. She continued to see Howard, who tried different medicines, but to no avail, the filing says.
On May 7, 2005, the patient was admitted to the hospital for diarrhea, acute respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia with respiratory failure, anemia and septic shock, which is a serious condition that occurs when an overwhelming infection leads to low blood pressure and blood flow and may cause the brain, heart, kidneys and liver to fail, the filing says.
She was in the hospital through May 19, 2005, and made a gradual and slow recovery.
"The accusation alleges negligent care of a patient with a history of bloating and bloody diarrhea and for not admitting the patient directly to the hospital," said Candis Cohen, spokeswoman for the medical board.
Anytime there's an adverse outcome with a case, it is reviewed internally, Cortez-Sackrider said.
Howard does not have any other public disciplinary actions against her license, according to the medical board's Web site.
She is still practicing medicine, Cortez-Sackrider said.
Howard graduated from Howard University's College of Medicine in 1978 and has had her California license since December 1982.
The medical board is seeking a hearing in which the board is advocating that Howard's license be revoked or suspended, her authority to supervise physician assistants be revoked or suspended or that if placed on probation, she is made to pay the costs of probation monitoring.
According to the Office of Administrative Hearings Web site, a hearing date has not been set.