Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010 | 12:37 p.m.
CARSON CITY – One Las Vegas doctor was fined $10,000 and another was ordered to make a $5,000 donation to charity for their criminal convictions on different charges.
The state Board of Medical Examiners imposed the $10,000 penalty on Dr. Ismat Chaudhery, who operates Mountain View Pediatrics. A public reprimand was issued and she was ordered to take 11.25 hours of medical education on billing.
Chaudhery pleaded guilty in district court last year to submitting false Medicaid claims, and billing the government for services she never performed in 2005 and twice in 2007.
Dr. Mark Kabins was directed to make the contribution to charity and his license was suspended for six months, but the penalty was stayed if he fulfills certain condition.
Kabins, a spine surgeon, pleaded guilty in federal court to concealing fraud and was sentenced in January to five years of probation and six months of home detention. He was required to pay $3.5 million in restitution to Melodie Simon, who was paralyzed after surgery.
He was also ordered by a federal judge to perform 250 hours of community service.
He has been given a letter of reprimand, must complete a 24-hour ethics course and perform 500 hours of community service without compensation.
Other Las Vegas cases settled by the examiners board included:
-- Dr. James Unger of Las Vegas was fined $3,000, issued a public reprimand and ordered to take six hours of education on medical error prevention. Unger was accused of performing an unnecessary hysterectomy on a 30-year old patient. In deciding on the surgery, he apparently relied on the pathology slide belonging to another patient.
-- Drs. Darren Soong and Daniel Link were both fined $1,000 for their handling of the case of a woman who showed up at the Surgical Weight Control Center. The woman was not informed she was pregnant in 2008 before the surgery was performed and anesthesia was administered. The complaint filed by the board said the elective surgery should have been canceled. They both received a public reprimand.
-- Dr. Thomas Sazani was fined $1,500 and received a public reprimand. He had been disciplined by the California Medical Board for prescribing medicine over the Internet without examining the patient.
CORRECTION: This story initially reported that Dr. Mark Kabins had pleaded guilty to falsifying medical records and conspiring with two other men, but he pleaded guilty only to concealing fraud. Also, the story initially reported that under the agreement with the medical examiners board, Kabins' license would be reinstated when he completes his federal probation, but in fact he wasn't stripped of his license. | (January 4, 2011)
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