Surgeon Gives Up License After State Cites Him as Incompetent

A Westminster orthopedic surgeon, accused by the California Board of Medical Quality Assurance of being “grossly negligent and incompetent,” has voluntarily surrendered his license.

Anthony C. P. Shen, 44, gave up his license on July 24 after being accused by the medical board of negligence and incompetence in five cases, including back surgery he performed in 1982 at Westminster Community Hospital in which he removed the wrong disk. In addition, Shen has been sued several times by patients claiming that he was incompetent, including one case in which he allegedly put a woman’s artificial knee in backward.

Allegations Disputed

Shen also is a defendant, along with Westminster Community--now known as Humana Hospital, Westminster--in a lawsuit filed by the hospital’s former chief physical therapist, Donna Burgard, who claims that she was fired without cause when she noticed Shen performing what she believed to be unnecessary surgery and advised some of his patients to get a second opinion.

In an interview Monday, Burgard said she was fired because “I didn’t go along with the cover-up” by Shen and the hospital.

Shen and his attorney--Yvonne Shen, his wife--declined to respond to repeated requests for an interview over the last week.

Mark Robbins, an attorney for Humana, said Monday, “We vigorously dispute and deny Ms. Burgard’s allegations, but Humana’s policy is not to discuss employment matters due to employee safety and policy.” Hospital spokesmen declined further comment on Shen’s competence or on Burgard’s lawsuit, citing confidential peer review procedures.

Stuart Bramer, Humana’s associate executive director, acknowledged that Shen worked at the hospital for about 10 years but said he resigned voluntarily in July, 1986. “He just submitted a letter a year ago and resigned,” Bramer said.

According to several lawyers who sued Shen, and an investigator from the medical quality board, Shen, who was graduated from Northwestern University Medical School in 1971, was a busy physician with a good bedside manner.

In the five cases documented by the medical board from 1977 to 1982, Shen was accused of operating incompetently and later attempting to cover up his errors with false reports.

In addition, the medical board alleged that in September, 1981, when he applied for staff privileges at the Medical Center of Garden Grove, Shen represented that he was certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery in his specialty when in fact he had never been certified by the prestigious board.

Said Frank Heckl, who investigated Shen after complaints from some patients and at least one hospital: “He had a very good practice. He was probably a good orthopedic surgeon. But he did some things very bad.”

In voluntarily giving up his license and the right to practice medicine in California, Shen is not admitting guilt, board officials said. But a formal finding of guilt and unprofessional conduct will not be filed against Shen unless he reapplies for a medical license in California.

Among the complaints against Shen documented by the medical board was the case of Milton R. Mergele, a 29-year-old laborer.

On March 29, 1982, at Westminster Community, Shen allegedly operated on Mergele’s spine and took out the wrong disk. Shen then allegedly “falsely attempted to cover up his operative error” when he dictated a report on a second operation on the same patient.

Mergele committed suicide on Dec. 17, 1983, and his family filed a lawsuit against Shen, charging malpractice.

Shen has settled at least three malpractice suits on the eve of trial, including one in which he allegedly put Los Angeles housewife Marina Catani’s artificial knee in backward.

Catani’s attorney, Del Hovden, said Shen failed to take postoperative X-rays of Catani’s knee and sent her to physical therapy for six months when she continued to complain of pain.

According to Catani, when another doctor performed surgery again on Catani’s bad knee, he discovered the problem. “I mean the thing was put in backwards!” Hovden said.