Maria Teresa Velazquez checked into Western Medical Center in Anaheim on Aug. 19, 2010, for her delivery day. Just four days earlier, she underwent one final exam with her gynecologist, Dr. Jerry Steven Garcia, whom Velazquez had visited every two weeks for months to ensure her diabetes wouldn't harm the child inside her. She complained of a hardened stomach, but she says Garcia assured her that was just her little boy Mario pressing, ready to join the world.
But Mario never saw the light of life; he was born dead. Garcia told Velazquez her son had died in utero at least two days earlier.
“My doctor never told me there could be problems,” a sobbing Velazquez says in Spanish. She cradles photos of the stillborn Mario, head covered in a beanie, body already showing signs of decomposition.
The nightmare for Velazquez and her husband, Jesus Alejandres, had just begun. They wanted an autopsy of Mario and answers; instead, Mario was quickly cremated, and the family never received an official cause of death. When an angry Jesus and a social worker visited Garcia's offices at Cigüena Women's Health Center in Anaheim to demand an explanation, Jesus says, the doctor angrily stormed out, got into his car and drove away.
For Garcia, devastating families after delivering a child and withholding facts was nothing new. At the time of Velazquez's delivery, Garcia was facing four medical-malpractice suits in Orange County Superior Court and a California Medical Board investigation. Together, they paint a picture of a doctor with a history of disturbing questions about his professional competence and dishonest responses when confronted.
The Southern California native had faced scandal in his career even before officially becoming a doctor. In 1996, Garcia was dismissed from clinical duties at an OB/GYN residency program at Thomason Hospital in El Paso run by Texas Tech's Health Sciences Center. The school's program director wrote in Garcia's post-graduate certification form, according to a report obtained by the Weekly, that Garcia had earlier “been placed on probation, suspended and sanctioned and that there had been restrictions placed on his activities, as well as complaints and incident reports filed involving his professional behavior and conduct.” It's unknown what those incidents were, however; Texas Tech did not return calls for comment.
Three years later, Garcia applied for a California medical license but was denied after lying on his application; in a question asking if the applicant had ever been dismissed from a training program, according to New Jersey Medical Board of Examiners paperwork, Garcia answered “no.” New Jersey granted Garcia a license despite that rejection, but only under the condition he undergo therapy to “focus on the behavior issues that occurred in the Texas residency program and the importance of a licensee's veracity,” according to its order of licensure.
Garcia returned to California in 2002 after the California Medical Board finally granted him a license. He set up offices at the Downtown Women's Center in Santa Ana and delivered babies at Western Medical, a hospital that caters almost exclusively to a poor, immigrant clientele. Here, according to lawsuits, Garcia began leaving a trail of injured and dead babies and mothers.
One pending suit claims Garcia's 2005 delivery of a girl was so rough that the newborn “sustained severe birth trauma” that included the permanent paralysis of the right brachial plexus, the network of nerves that controls the right arm from shoulder to fingers. Garcia settled a similar case in December; the terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Another malpractice filing claims “negligent medical care provided” by Garcia led to a heart attack suffered by Maria Guadalupe Mejia when she gave birth in 2009; her baby died soon after delivery, and she remains in a vegetative state.
Pabla Duran alleges that in August 2009, Garcia performed a D&C (dilation and curettage) procedure after he claimed he couldn't find a heartbeat for her fetus; the procedure was allegedly so sloppy that Duran had to visit another doctor to fully extract her dead fetus. That same month, Afelda Venega claims, a surgery performed by Garcia to heal an intestinal injury left her in such bad shape that Venega needed emergency treatment shortly after.
“We're convinced Dr. Garcia committed serious acts of malpractice,” says Orange-based lawyer Timothy Donahue, who is representing both Duran and Venega in the same suit against Garcia. “We're going to prove in court that he shouldn't practice medicine and he should be held responsible for his acts.”
Now, malpractice suits often come with the territory of practicing medicine—especially obstetrics, for which bad outcomes are emotionally devastating. None of the above cases has led to actions against Garcia by the Board. The one that did started on July 21, 2006, and the following narrative is based on documents from that investigation:
That morning, Veronica Alfano was admitted to Garden Grove Hospital to give birth to her first child. Garcia performed a cesarean section on her and delivered a healthy girl around 6 p.m. He left for home after the surgery; Alfano, however, took a turn for the worse.
At 9:50 that night, a nurse called Garcia to inform him that Alfano's blood pressure was dropping; she asked him to return to the hospital. Instead, Garcia dictated orders via phone, even after Alfano was rushed into the emergency room. Eventually, Garcia stopped responding to his staff's many pages and phone calls. He didn't show up until 2 in the morning—six minutes after Alfano died. Garden Grove Hospital suspended Garcia in December 2006 over the matter; rather than submit to a hearing, Garcia resigned at the beginning of 2007. A year later, Garcia sought and received credentials with Monarch HealthCare in Irvine, marking “no” on the part of the application that asked if the applicant had ever been suspended from work or resigned while under investigation.
In October 2008, the California Medical Board, the state agency in charge of disciplining doctors, served Garcia with subpoenas regarding three patients—one of whom was Alfano. Garcia nevertheless wrote a letter to Monarch after they discovered his application lie that he “was never sued on the [Alfano] case nor [had Garcia] ever been investigated since by the Medical Board or any other entity”—this, despite the Medical Board subpoenas and the fact that Alfano's husband had sued Garcia a year after his wife's death. In another letter to Monarch, he admitted to the Medical Board's subpoenas but insisted “[he had] been cleared and nothing ever came of it.” In February 2009—five days before the California Medical Board had scheduled a hearing—Garcia assured Monarch officials that the Medical Board “had investigated him and found nothing.”
The Medical Board wasn't pleased with Garcia's repeated duplicity. They filed a complaint with the California Attorney General's office in early 2010 accusing Garcia of gross negligence, incompetence and repeated negligent acts for Alfano's death, as well as dishonesty over his repeated lies to Monarch. On Jan. 3, Garcia signed a settlement in which he admitted to all the charges regarding Alfano; as for the dishonesty complaint, the California Medical Board ruling stated Garcia “does not contest that, at an administrative hearing, [the Board] could establish a prima facie case with respect to the charges and allegations.” Garcia's medical license is currently on seven years' probation, and he must take courses on ethics, medical-record keeping and continual education. But he can still practice.
Three malpractice suits are pending against Garcia; the Velazquezes have not filed suit, but they have enlisted the help of Los Amigos, the Anaheim-based civil-rights group.
A request for an interview with Garcia placed with Margaret Holm, his attorney on two malpractice suits, was returned by Ray McMahon, who represented Garcia before the California Medical Board. McMahon stressed that the Board's definition of a prima facie case only meant there was evidence that could establish the Board's case, not that Garcia was guilty of the allegations. “When a physician is in front of the Medical Board, it is an overwhelming financial situation for them, given the Board has the weight and finances of the state,” McMahon said. “He entered into the settlement for lots of reasons. He simply couldn't afford to fight the battle that was in front of him.”
This article appeared in print as “Births and Deaths: Lawsuits and Medical Board documents paint a grim picture of gynecologist Jerry Steven Garcia’s practice.”
