Namihas Testifies His Patients Were Never Mistreated : Trial: Ex-Tustin gynecologist is accused of 10 counts of mail fraud for allegedly insisting on unnecessary, expensive and sometimes painful treatments.

Ex-Tustin gynecologist Ivan C. Namihas, on trial in federal court on fraud charges, testified Tuesday that he never mistreated his patients and used the latest techniques available to give them the best medical care.

Namihas, 62, made his first public comments Tuesday since an avalanche of medical complaints against him first surfaced in 1992.

He spoke softly, often giving just “yes” or “no” responses to his attorney’s questioning. He described himself as a caring doctor who tried to keep abreast of medical developments, often at his own expense.

Namihas testified that one of his primary goals was to prevent his patients from developing cancer. He said that he was concerned that if he didn’t use the strongest methods available in treating patients with sometimes abnormal cell growths, the growths could become deadly.

“You were attempting to treat (the patients) as human beings--is that correct?” asked Namihas’ attorney, Paul Meyer.

“Yes,” Namihas said quietly.

Namihas, the subject of the largest medical-abuse investigation in state history, is charged in U.S. District Court with 10 counts of mail fraud.

Prosecutors accuse the former doctor of lying to patients, telling them they had venereal warts, cancerous lesions, or worse diseases such as full-blown cancer and AIDS. They accuse him of fraudulent use of the mail to bill six patients for unnecessary, expensive and often painful laser surgery.

But Namihas said that at the time he was treating the patients, laser surgery was considered by leading gynecologists to be the best possible treatment for warts and precancerous lesions.

The bespectacled doctor kept his eyes focused on his attorney throughout his two hours of testimony.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Namihas said he attended several medical conferences sponsored by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in which leading experts strongly urged the use of lasers for treating those conditions.

Namihas further explained: “I want you to inform you, Mr. Meyer, that I paid a large sum of money (for the conferences). These were not lectures. These were courses. This was information that was extremely relevant to my practice.”

But several of his former patients have portrayed him differently.

Stacy Crumpler, 23, testified last week that during her first visit to the doctor in 1991, Namihas shouted at her that she had AIDS without making any tests and shook her as she wept to get her to sign an agreement to have a blood test done.

She testified that he also told her she had cancer and could soon be dead, though later biopsy results showed she did not have cancer.

Namihas’ receptionist at the time, Bobbi Martin, testified that he ordered laser surgery for Crumpler.

One man has testified that Namihas diagnosed his condition as viral warts and used laser surgery to burn them off. Four other doctors who treated patients after Namihas have testified that Namihas either misdiagnosed his patients or misused laser surgery in treating them.

But on the witness stand Tuesday, Namihas denied falsely telling patients they had AIDS or cancer.

Namihas said he never yelled or shook Crumpler. In responding to allegations that he sent insurance companies and patients false bills, Namihas said he never signed a bill, for example, that was sent to a male patient that contended he had examined the man’s vagina and cervix. Namihas said an employee must have signed the bill.

He also said that his employees were using a rubber stamp that replicated his signature to sign bills without his knowledge.

The state Medical Board revoked Namihas’ license in May, 1992, after the board received more than 160 abuse complaints by the doctor’s former patients.

Some of the women accused Namihas of fondling and masturbating them and otherwise sexually abusing them during pelvic examinations as far back as the late 1960s.

Prosecutors said they declined to file sexual abuse charges because the statute of limitations had expired in many instances. In other cases, patients were reluctant to testify or prosecutors were unable to corroborate the complaints, authorities said.

Namihas is scheduled to resume his testimony today before U.S. Dist. Atty. Linda H. McLaughlin.