Doctor Gets Probation in Transfer of Patient
A former emergency room doctor at Panorama Community Hospital has been placed on one-year’s probation by a California Medical Board panel for allowing a critically ill man to go to a county hospital after his family said they could not afford treatment.
The four-member panel found Dr. Stephen C. Acosta, 39, of Redondo Beach, grossly negligent in not admitting 67-year-old Felix Talag to the Panorama City hospital on April 11, 1987, even though the patient had vomited blood and his vital signs were unstable. Talag later recovered.
But in a May 8 decision, the panel placed the doctor on probation--among the least serious of the sanctions the board could have invoked rather than revoking or suspending his license, board officials said. Acosta said he recommended that family members take Talag to the county’s Olive View Medical Center to accommodate their desire for less costly treatment.
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