Doctor Barred From Practicing Pending Hearing

A La Jolla eye doctor was temporarily barred from practicing medicine when a judge ruled Friday that the physician posed a serious risk to the community.

Dr. Jeffrey Rutgard, accused of performing unnecessary eye surgeries on mostly elderly patients, has likened himself to God and described having “a gift from the Lord” that allowed him to earn millions of dollars, according to a journal entry he wrote.

Administrative Law Judge M. Gayle Askren Friday ordered Rutgard to stop treating patients until after a three-day hearing beginning June 1, when Askren will decide whether to allow Rutgard to resume his practice.

Within the next two weeks, the attorney general’s office will file papers to revoke Rutgard’s California medical license, which he has held since Dec. 12, 1978. Rutgard, who earned $4 million last year, is currently under federal and state investigation.

Rutgard, 41, has been accused by the attorney general’s office of a laundry list of improprieties that includes bilking Medicare of millions of dollars, paying $10,000 in hush money to an employee, operating on patients without their consent or when they didn’t realize they were undergoing surgery, and re-using disposable suture equipment during operations.