NEWPORT BEACH : State Takes License From Podiatrist
The state Department of Consumer Affairs stripped a local podiatrist of his license Monday for gross negligence, incompetence and dishonesty.
Dr. Craig Lowe, 42, was also ordered to pay $14,000 to the department’s Board of Podiatric Medicine for the cost of the investigation and prosecution, which covered seven of Lowe’s patients between 1982 and 1988.
An administrative law judge found that Lowe used excessive, unwarranted and improper surgical procedures numerous times; that in five cases his surgery was incompetent, and that he was dishonest and improper in his billing.
“In an attempt to cover up his mistakes, he just exacerbated the problem. . . , said Deputy Atty. Gen. Steven H. Zeigen. “The problem with Dr. Lowe was that he was his own teacher, and as his own teacher, he could never recognize the errors of his student.”
Lowe could not be reached for comment Monday.
Barbara J. Swist of Irvine, a former patient, said she was jubilant to learn that Lowe’s license had been revoked.
In 1992, Swist won a $33,000 arbitration award after filing a medical malpractice suit against Lowe, charging that his treatment left her with constant foot pain.
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