LOCAL : El Toro Doctor Loses His License Over Treatment

State officials announced today that they have revoked the license of an El Toro physician accused of administering a hormonal treatment that, medical authorities contend, posed a public danger and caused harmful side effects to several women.

Dr. Norman King Beals, 55, who hosted a call-in radio talk show and advertised heavily in local newspapers, admitted the California Medical Board’s allegations are true and declined his right to contest the charges at a state evidentiary hearing, according to documents filed last week by the state attorney general’s office.

Susan Fitzgerald, a deputy attorney general representing the medical board, said the doctor’s admission came after the state obtained a 60-day temporary restraining order in Orange County Superior Court barring Beals from practicing medicine unless supervised by another physician, in another physician’s office.

The court order expired Wednesday, the same day the medical board issued its decision on Beals’ license.

Under an agreement between Fitzgerald and Beals, the doctor pleaded guilty to the original accusation in exchange for the state’s agreeing not to proceed on complaints from other patients, Fitzgerald said.

The original accusation contained complaints from six women who contended they were prescribed massive doses of hormones for almost any ailment and later suffered side effects including rashes, vomiting and hepatitis. A supplemental complaint filed in Superior Court contained similar complaints from more women.

Medical board officials said no scientific evidence exists to support Beals’ contention that injecting the female hormones progesterone and estrogen can reduce the odds of developing breast cancer or eliminate menopausal hot flashes, premenstrual syndrome and heart disease.

Beals, who could not be reached for comment this morning, had earlier accused the state of orchestrating a “witch hunt” against him.