Chico Doctor Kills, Threatens, Sexually Assaults Patients, Keeps License
Posted on 27. Jan, 2009 by Daniel Taylor in Crime
Usually the local paper is good for little more than laughs due to its less than stellar journalistic skills. But today there was actually a fairly interesting story, showing just how far a doctor can go without getting his license pulled. In this instance, a local plastic surgeon was found to have sexually and physically assaulted patients, threatened a child and even caused the death of one patient, and was given a five-year probationary period, in which he is still able to legally practice medicine. Uh...?
A Chico plastic surgeon has been disciplined by the state Medical Board after being accused of unprofessional conduct, negligence and incompetence. Dr. Loren R. Morgan had his medical license revoked by the board. However, the revocation was stayed, and Morgan is being allowed to practice, under certain conditions, during a five-year probation period.
In 1999, the documents state, Morgan kissed a young woman on the cheek during an appointment and told her, "we love you." At another appointment, when the same woman was reclining in a chair and had her eyes closed because of the bright light shining in her eyes, Morgan kissed her on the mouth, the documents said.
In another 1999 case, the documents cite, Morgan was preparing an anesthetized female patient for jaw surgery when he lowered her gown, exposing her breasts and remarked how big they were. During the operation, he left her breasts exposed, the documents said.
Following a surgery performed in 1998, a patient began waking up while Morgan was talking to another doctor over the
intercom, according to the documents. He allegedly hit the patient on the forehead with the bottom of his fist and told him to "shut up."In a case from 1998, the documents said, Morgan was treating a child who was fussing about having an injection in his foot. The doctor threatened the boy with a spanking "longer and harder" than he'd ever been spanked before, the documents stated.And in a case from 2000, Morgan was accused of performing hand surgery that was unnecessary and of not properly following up on the patient.
The last case, from 2002, involved surgery Morgan performed to remove fat from an obese woman. The documents claimed it was unprofessional to do surgery on such a high-risk patient, that Morgan did two procedures and only had consent for one, and that his decision to use certain drugs to treat post-operative bleeding represented incompetence and negligence.
The 64-year-old woman died just more than a month after surgery, the documents cited, noting her death was caused by blood clots resulting from her surgery.
But hey, if you'd like to schedule an appointment, go right ahead!
