State Accuses 6 Podiatrists of Negligence

Six San Fernando Valley podiatrists were accused of providing substandard treatment and engaging in unlawful business practices in a lawsuit filed by the state on Friday.

One of the six, Albert Apkarian, has had about 50 complaints filed against him by patients, said Carol Sigmann, executive officer of the California Board of Podiatric Medicine. The board filed the lawsuit along with the state attorney general’s office in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In the lawsuit, the state seeks a court order halting the alleged practices and seeks fines and restitution.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Anne L. Mendoza said the suit is primarily directed at Apkarian and Granada Hills podiatrist Garey Weber.

Incompetence Charged

The suit accuses the podiatrists of “providing grossly negligent and incompetent care, diagnosing and treating nonexistent conditions, falsifying medical records, providing fraudulent second opinions, and submitting false billings,” according to a statement by the attorney general’s office.

Mendoza said the suit mostly seeks to stop the doctors from inflating fees by performing unnecessary podiatric services.

The board moved to revoke Apkarian’s license in 1979 based on six patient complaints alleging negligence, incompetence and billing for services not performed, according to Sigmann.

At that time, Apkarian reached an agreement with the state that allowed him to continue practicing but put him on probation for seven years, Sigmann said. In June, 1986, after 19 more complaints, the board petitioned to revoke his license, she said.

Then, two months ago, the board supplemented that petition with more accusations--including excessive diagnostic procedures, excessive prescribed treatment and false or fraudulent claims for payment to insurance companies, Sigmann said.

The board is seeking to revoke his license again and has scheduled a two-month hearing beginning Oct. 5 before an administrative law judge, Sigmann said. The disciplinary action against Apkarian includes about 50 patient complaints, she said.

Charges Called ‘Untrue’

The board has never taken disciplinary action against Weber, but Mendoza said the state has received a “substantial” number of complaints about him.

Theo Engen, an attorney representing Apkarian, said that the allegations are untrue and that no patients were harmed. She said that the board had threatened a suit in February when Apkarian refused to surrender his license for the rest of his life and pay $60,000 to $80,000 for the state’s investigative costs.

She said the allegations of excessive treatment stem from a dispute between the doctor and the insurance companies about proper billing procedures. Apkarian is ill, she said, and has not practiced since March.

Engen also represents Weber who, she said, had not seen the lawsuit and did not wish to comment.

The other podiatrists named as defendants are Frank Garofalo and Romeo J. Pettinelli, both of Canoga Park, Gulbenk Shirvanian of Agoura and Michael T. Hickey, whose address was unknown.

Garofalo and Shirvanian said they had no knowledge of the lawsuit. But they denied that they treated patients improperly or engaged in fraudulent billing practices. Hickey and Pettinelli could not be reached for comment.