Tuesday, July 12, 2011 | 3:33 p.m.
CARSON CITY – A medical complaint has been filed against a Henderson doctor whose patient ended up brain dead.
The state Board of Medical Examiners says Dr. Steve Wong, an anesthesiologist, used the wrong device to keep open the airways of a 23-year-old patient who was undergoing surgery for teeth removal in May 2008.
Wong has 20 days to answer the complaint and can ask for a hearing before the board.
The complaint says Wong used what is called an LMA airway device instead of an Endotracheal tube. It did not provide optimal air passage to the patient, who was without an open airway for 11 minutes.
The original complaint filed against Wong was in June 2010 and carried only two counts involving the treatment and the failure "to maintain timely, legible, accurate and complete medical records relating to the diagnoses, treatment and care of a patient…"
The newly filed complaint expands to five accusations that center on two arrests in California that Wong failed to disclose six times to the medical examiners board on the initial license application and renewal forms. Those charges were dismissed.
Records show that the insurer for Wong made a $400,000 settlement in 2007 for improper shoulder surgery that left a patient partially paralyzed.
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