Subject: Medical Board of California

• Dr. No Good?

  Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced the arrests of three medical doctors who allegedly traded their professional oaths for quick cash. Michael Cheeluen Chan, 61, Mario Z. Rosenberg, 59, and William Wilson Hampton, 51, now face 47 felony counts and, if convicted, could go to prison for 49 years for their roles in a massive insurance fraud scheme, according to the DA's office. After their early morning arrests, all three doctors were transported to the Orange County Jail. Ba

  May 16, 2007

• Patient of Alcoholic OC Doctor Dies

  A few months ago we published the gruesome story of an OC plastic surgeon who had a drinking problem and left several patients hacked and deformed up in Sacramento before relocating to Orange County, where he now practices in Huntington Beach. One of the women in our story was Becky Anderson, who made national news when she went public with her story and images of her severe deformities—protruding intestines and a leg that looked like someone had taken machete to it—caused, in part, by the r

  April 9, 2008

• A Picture's Worth a Thousand Whoop-Asses

  An anti-abortion activist taking photographs outside a controversial Santa Ana family planning clinic suffered minor injuries Saturday afternoon after being attacked by a physician who obviously did not appreciate having his picture taken. According to Santa Ana Police records, Howard Tendai Pfpajena, 66, was arrested on suspicion of assault and battery about 12:30 p.m. near Fourth and Sycamore streets. Online Christian and pro-life news services that earlier today reported [here and here] on t

  August 5, 2008

• A Scalpel and 99 Bottles of Beer

  An administrative law judge heard the Attorney General's case against alcoholic-plastic surgeon-gone-bad, Brian West, in Sacramento this week. The hearings followed the accusation filed earlier this year by the Medical Board of California alleging that West had performed multiple acts of gross negligence against several of his former patients. Three former patients, a string of experts from both sides, pathologists and West himself took the stand. The patients allege they were disfigured afte

  October 8, 2008

• A Doctor Walks Into A Bar...

  ...And proceeds to fondle and otherwise molest his patients? Switch out the bar to an examining room and that's what the OC District Attorney's office is alleging that David Hung Do, a Kaiser doctor who worked in La Palma and Anaheim, did to three female patients between June 2007 and July 2008. Do was arrested last Friday on charges that he touched the female patients' breasts and vaginas beneath their clothing while performing "routine" medical exams at Kaiser hospitals and urgent care centers

  December 1, 2008

• Ex-Owner of Santa Ana Abortion Clinic May Be Jail Bound

  LifeNews.com reports the owner of a chain of women's health clinics that caters primarily to Latinas - which until recently included Clinica Medica Para La Mujer at 120 W 5th St., Santa Ana, the site of an alleged assault by a physician on a pro-life photographer we blogged about in August - is likely headed to prison for up to 10 years.  Bertha Pinedo Bugarin, 48, (shown at left) pleaded no contest in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday to seven felony charges including pretending to be a

  December 5, 2008

• Tucked Up

  A Long Beach patient sues Dr. Brian West over a tummy tuck she claims went awry

  January 17, 2008

• Drunk Doctor Gets Bad News -- Sort Of

  Brian West, the former local plastic surgeon with a hard-to-kick drinking problem accused of disfiguring some patients, and who later filed a restraining order against one of them, has been found guilty in two of the four cases brought against him by the state Attorney General -- one, for lying to an investigator about being on his way to the hospital when he got into a drunken driving accident, and the other for disfiguring a former cancer patient after performing a surgery she had not consente

  February 20, 2009

• Drunken, Disgruntled Plastic Surgeon Picks On Reporters

  A supporter or two of Brian West--the plastic surgeon whose ups and (mostly) downs, involving his drinking problem and former patients, I've covered in these pages--has now taken to trying to sully mine and Sacramento CBS television reporter Kurtis Ming's names with a comical new blog experiment. Ming has covered the story involving West since it began to unfold in Sacramento several years ago, and before West moved down south and began practicing in Long Beach, Huntington Beach and LA.The new b

  March 2, 2009

• The Ripple Effects Of Octo-Breeding

  Adhi DarmawanIt seems the hyper-breeding antics of "octomom" Nadya Suleman have now prompted television networks to halt production of reality shows or documentaries about women trying to have babies in any non-conventional way, writes former NPR "Day to Day" host Madeleine Brand on her new parenting blog. The move is meant to hold on to advertisers who might otherwise flee out of fear of some kind of negative octo backlash.Brand heard this latest development from a talent agent, so it's hearsay

  March 24, 2009

• Troubled Plastic Surgeon Brian West Tries to Get a Restraining Order Against a Former Patient

  August 14, 2008

• Under Wraps

  Many of Dr. Brian West's patients didn't know he was in the state medical board's substance-abuse-diversion program. At least six of them claim they're paying the price

  January 10, 2008

• Dr. K KOd

  July 21, 2005

• Letters

  December 16, 2004

• Playing Doctor

  December 2, 2004

• After This, Tomatoes

  March 4, 2004

• Dr. Kooshian, Mr. Hide

  June 20, 2002

• Boozy Huntington Beach Surgeon's Medical License Revoked

  No scalpels allowed.When we last left off in the strange case of alcoholic Huntington Beach plastic surgeon Brian West, we'd just learned that he'd been found guilty for lying to investigators about a DUI and disfiguring a former patient without her consent. The administrative law judge recommended that his license be revoked but the Medical Board of California, which had final say, decided, strangely, to reject the recommendation and have their own panel determine West's fate. Today that panel

  May 27, 2009

• Orange County Nurses Among Those the State Deemed "Public Safety Threats" Because of Drug Addictions

  Marcin Tusinski​Remember the series of stories we shared about the Hungtington Beach plastic surgeon who had a penchant for red wine and accumulating DUIs? And remember how California's Medical Board egregiously allowed that doctor (and many like him) to keep practicing medicine despite his having failed out of its secretive drug diversion program (which was shut down last year after repeated failed audits)? Turns out doctors like Brian West, who the state Medical Board allowed to keep practic

  July 29, 2009

• Anaheim Hills Urologist Goes From Being Botched Penile Enlargement Surgery Expert to Botched Penile Enlargement Surgery Defendant

  Dr. Gary Rheinschild​For "Long and Short of It," Salon.com's Aug. 2, 1999, story on botched penile enlargement surgeries and the, ahem, lengths patients must go to if they safely want to increase the size of their members, reporter Michael Easterbrook turned to an Anaheim Hills urologist for expertise.Now, Dr. Gary Rheinschild, 75, faces possible state discipline that could range from a public reprimand to loss of his license over allegations he botched several penis enlargement surgeries

  September 18, 2009