Accused Surgeon Gives Up License : Board Terms Orthopedist ‘Grossly Negligent, Incompetent’

A 43-year-old Westminster orthopedic surgeon, accused by the California Board of Medical Quality Assurance of being “grossly negligent and incompetent,” has voluntarily surrendered his license to practice medicine.

Anthony C. P. Shen 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.

In voluntarily giving up his license and the right to practice medicine in California, Shen disputed several of the board’s accusations--including allegations that he had falsely claimed to be a board-certified surgeon, that he had tried to cover up a surgical error and that he had performed surgery on a woman’s knee incompetently. Shen is also a defendant, along with Westminster Community Hospital--now known as Humana Hospital, Westminster--in a lawsuit filed by Westminster Community’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 second opinions.

In an interview Monday, Burgard said she was fired because “I didn’t go along with the cover-up” by Shen and the hospital. According to Burgard, Shen did more operations than any other orthopedist on the hospital’s staff, but frequently Shen’s patients “were much worse after the surgery.”

Shen and his attorney, Yvonne Chen, who is also the secretary and chief financial officer of his medical practice, Hospital Circle Medical Group, declined to respond to repeated requests for an interview over the last week.

But in court papers answering allegations in Burgard’s lawsuit, Shen, the hospital and its parent corporation, Humana Inc. of Lexington, Ky., said the suit had no merit. They said that Burgard’s claim of a conspiracy was false and that there was no proof that Shen had carried out unnecessary or incompetent surgery. Shen also claimed that Burgard was fired after she disobeyed a direct order from him “to refrain from giving patients advice regarding surgery.”

Citing confidential peer review procedures, hospital spokesmen declined comment on Shen’s competence.

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

In the five cases documented by the Board of Medical Quality Assurance 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 Shen applied for staff privileges at the Medical Center of Garden Grove, he represented that he was certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery in his specialty when, in fact, he had not been.

Said Frank Heckl, who investigated Shen for the state board after complaints from 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.”

Likened to Plea Bargain

In a procedure that board official Linda McCready likened to a plea bargain, Shen agreed to waive his right to a hearing on the accusations. According to the stipulation between Shen and the board, the accusations are not now considered formal findings of guilt. But should Shen ever reapply for a license to practice medicine in California, all but the disputed allegations would “be deemed admitted by him as true” and at that time he would be deemed “guilty of unprofessional conduct.”

McCready called the circumstances surrounding Shen’s losing his license unusual. In 1986, she said, only 22 doctors of about 66,000 practicing in California voluntarily gave up their licenses.

Among the complaints against Shen documented by the board but disputed by him was the case of Milton R. Mergele, a 29-year-old laborer from Garden Grove.

On March, 29, 1982, at Westminster Community Hospital, Shen operated on Mergele’s spine and allegedly 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 accusing Shen of malpractice.

‘Good for the Community’

Mergele’s attorney, Gary Mohi of Los Angeles, said he was gratified to learn that Shen had lost his license. “I think it’s good for the community at large that he is not practicing,” Mohi said.

In another case cited by the medical board, Shen on March 7, 1982, re-examined the knee of a woman he had operated on earlier and, it was alleged, badly injured the knee. According to the board’s report, Shen flexed the knee “from 90 degrees to approximately 145 degrees, during which time there was a series of popping sensations, after which the patient had a flail knee.”

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 post-operative 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.

Shen “does have a pleasant personality, a good bedside manner,” Hovden said. “But his care did not meet up with his personality. . . . We believe his practice fell below the standard of care.”