State Revokes Medical License of Controversial Gynecologist

The medical license of Beverly Hills gynecologist Dr. Vicki Georges Hufnagel, a self-styled anti-hysterectomy crusader, has been revoked by the state medical board, which found she committed multiple acts of medical incompetency and fraud in patient billings.

The revocation by the California Board of Medical Quality Assurance, which would bring to a close the career of one of the most publicly visible physicians in the state, was originally to take effect today under terms of a decision handed down several weeks ago. However, the board said Tuesday it had issued a 30-day stay of the revocation to permit Hufnagel to try to challenge the order.

The ruling, which was unusually harsh in its terms, actually included half a dozen revocation orders--one for each of six cases in which Hufnagel was found to have treated female patients incompetently, overcharged them or both. The order also contained four counts on which the license was separately suspended for 60 days and two others in which Hufnagel was placed on five years’ probation.

In its revocation order, the board agreed with factual findings by an administrative law judge. The judge had recommended only probation in the Hufnagel case earlier this year, but the board significantly increased the penalty, permanently stripping Hufnagel of her right to practice.

The judge, who recommended only a stiff probation term, found that the controversial physician and author of anti-hysterectomy materials “appears to be an expert of her own creation, much like the entertainer or politician who begins to believe the truth of his own press releases.”

The medical board found that, in cases where Hufnagel had provided care amounting to “incompetency” and “gross negligence,” she also billed patients for as much as $15,000 in a pattern of “dishonesty or corruption.”

The state agency found Hufnagel sometimes billed for procedures never performed or performed by another physician and, in at least one case, recommended unnecessary reproductive tract surgery. The board found that, in some cases, Hufnagel had engaged in “creating false medical records with fraudulent intent.”

Hufnagel said she will continue to operate her practice, which she calls the Institute for Reproductive Health, during the 30-day stay. The medical board said Hufnagel filed a formal request for reconsideration of her case. “We’re continuing to practice,” she said. “I think the point is that we will work within the legal system to ask for due process.”

The revocation is the latest development in Hufnagel’s controversial career. State officials originally filed a complaint seeking to revoke her license in 1987 after a series of patient complaints. A frequent guest on television and radio talk shows, Hufnagel is the author of a 1988 book, “No More Hysterectomies,” a broad indictment of the medical Establishment.

In the book, she advocates increased use of her own techniques, which she calls “female reconstructive surgery.” Medical experts testifying in the license revocation case, however, said repeatedly that the methods Hufnagel uses are not unique. She maintained in a lengthy revocation hearing in 1987 and last year that she was being persecuted by physicians who opposed her campaign to reduce hysterectomy rates.

But the licensing board’s Division of Medical Quality ruled instead that Hufnagel “is one of many medical professionals who believe that too many unnecessary hysterectomies are being done,” but that her medical-political beliefs “had no bearing on any of the facts found to be true or untrue in this case.

“Her zeal for her own personal bill of fare got in the way of sound medical judgment in some cases and the standard of care in others, and her overblown view of her own knowledge and skill caused her to act incompetently in others.”