Klvana Gets 53 Years to Life in Deaths of Babies

Dr. Milos Klvana, a Valencia obstetrician convicted of second-degree murder in the deaths of infants in his care, was sentenced to 53 years to life in state prison Monday by a judge who said California’s medical regulatory system “allowed these crimes to be committed.”

Klvana, 49, was convicted by Los Angeles Superior Court jury on Dec. 18 of second-degree murder in the deaths of eight infants and a fetus between 1982 and 1986. In the nine deaths, the jury found that Klvana proceeded with out-of-hospital deliveries in cases with high-risk prenatal or childbirth complications he knew were beyond his skills.

Six of the deaths involved Klvana’s use of a labor-inducing drug in his Valencia and Temple City clinics, which lacked equipment for fetal heart monitoring and controlling the drug’s dosage. When newborns appeared ill or had trouble breathing, Klvana did not recommend hospitalization.

Klvana was sentenced four days after officials of the Medical Board of California said the agency’s inquiry into its investigation of the doctor found no need for major institutional reforms. The inquiry was prompted largely by criticism from Klvana’s prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian R. Kelberg, who said the board failed to act against Klvana’s license, despite having clear evidence of his incompetence.

Judge Judith C. Chirlin joined Monday in the criticism of the agency, formerly known as the Board of Medical Quality Assurance.

“This case is a testament to the abject failure” of the board, said Chirlin, who presided over Klvana’s eight-month trial.

The judge cited several examples, including the board’s failure to move against Klvana’s license--now bound by a restraining order--until more than a year after he had been charged with murder. The board also relied upon Klvana’s version of events to close an investigation into one of the deaths that later resulted in a murder conviction, she noted.

Kenneth J. Wagstaff, the board’s executive director, said last week that the board’s mistakes in the Klvana case were largely “a personnel problem” resolved by the subsequent departure of three board investigators.

Wagstaff supported the board’s system of using medical consultants to review cases for investigators. And Dr. Rendel Levonian, who chairs the board’s Division of Medical Quality, said the overall system is “adequate.”

But Chirlin said she felt “absolute outrage” at those statements.

“To me, it looks like the board did an even worse job of investigating itself than it did investigating Dr. Klvana,” the judge said.

Klvana, himself, also questioned the board’s actions, or lack thereof.

“They never told me, hey, Dr. Klvana, you are a killer, stop practicing,” he said.

As the public policy questions occupied Monday’s proceedings, Klvana sat dressed in an open-collared dress shirt and slacks. He maintained his innocence, attributing the deaths to “nature.”

“It just happened, judge,” Klvana said, crying at one point. “These babies didn’t survive . . . they were very difficult, complicated cases.”

Statements by Klvana and one of his attorneys, Rita-Jane Baird, about the doctor’s suffering while in custody prompted an angry response in court from a parent of one of the dead children.

“They have no idea of having a baby die right next to you,” said Edward Friel.

Pounding his fist on the lectern, he continued: “And to be conned by that son of a . . . . He sent me home with a dying baby, and he knew it. As far as I’m concerned, that’s just like sticking a gun to his head.”

Klvana received his medical training in his native Czechoslovakia. He fled that country after the Soviet Union’s 1968 occupation and in 1975 was licensed in California.

Arleen Palacios, 32, of Pasadena, whose baby died at birth in 1985, said after the sentencing that Klvana “got what he deserved.”