Board accuses doctor of having inappropriate sexual relationship
| Monday, Jul 26 2010 07:47 PM
Last Updated Monday, Jul 26 2010 07:47 PM
A prominent local plastic surgeon is battling allegations by the California Medical Board that he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a woman on whom he had performed breast augmentation surgery only months before.
The accusation, filed by the board’s executive director May 26 of this year, accuses Dr. Darshan Shah of sexual exploitation of a patient, unprofessional conduct and gross negligence for entering into the 2006 personal relationship without documenting the end of the professional one as required.
Shah’s attorney, Mike Khouri, said his client entered into a months-long, consensual sexual relationship with the woman several weeks after the two had clearly severed their doctor-patient ties.
He noted the woman, who was referred to only as M.S. in Medical Board filings, came forward with her story three to 3 1/2 years after the personal relationship ended and after she’d married a doctor who encouraged her to do so.
“The question is whether she was informed that the doctor-patient relationship was terminated and our contention is she was so informed,” Khouri said.
Because she was not named, the woman could not be reached for comment.
Shah has not been found guilty of any charges and the California Medical Board website indicates he has a clean disciplinary record. Options for the board, depending on the outcome of the case, include revoking or suspending Shah’s physician and surgeon’s certificate; revoking or suspending his authority to supervise physician assistants; and ordering Shah to pay, if placed on probation, the costs of probation monitoring.
The Medical Board accusation says Shah performed breast augmentation surgery on M.S. on or about May 16, 2006, and saw her for follow-up care four times in the next five months. It says an Oct. 22, 2006, progress report said the patient was “doing well and very happy” and the scars were “healing well.”
Also on Oct. 22, according to the filing, Shah discussed with M.S. performing additional plastic surgery on her. Later the woman underwent that and another procedure with a different plastic surgeon.
The complaint alleges there is no chart documentation that the doctor-patient relationship was severed and that the Oct. 22 progress note said M.S. was advised to return to Shah as needed. It goes on to say Shah and the woman started a sexual relationship shortly after Oct. 22, 2006.
“As a standard practice the severance of the doctor-patient relationship is documented by a dismissal letter, which should be sent by certified mail, indicating that the patient can no longer return to this physician,” the Medical Board accusation says. “This letter should also advise the patient of the names and contact information for other physicians in the area of similar specialty.”
Khouri said the woman had been referred to another plastic surgeon and he disputes that doctors must file a letter severing relationships with patients as a Medical Board consultant said. He said Shah and the woman had an affair after coincidentally running into each other at a restaurant in Bakersfield.
Shah was not married, Khouri said.
“
Her current husband forced her to bring on this complaint,” Khouri said. “Her current husband told her that any doctor having sex with a patient, even a former one, is illegal.”
He added: “I think that two consenting adults should be able to have a sexual relationship if they want that relationship.”
Khouri said he’s evaluating the evidence and there could be a settlement or a hearing. He explained the overall process this way: when a complaint is lodged with the medical board, it’s investigated and the findings are passed on to a medical consultant for evaluation. The next step can be that in consultation with the attorney general’s office, the medical board executive director brings an accusation.
Khouri said the case is heard by an administrative law judge who proposes a decision to the medical board. The board then decides whether to adopt or reject the decision, he said.
