Charges Filed Against Anaheim Surgeon : Inquiry: Medical board alleges he caused one patient to bleed to death and gave another an unneeded mastectomy.

State medical officials have accused an Anaheim surgeon of causing one patient to bleed to death and performing an unnecessary mastectomy on another.

Dr. Roberto A. Cueva, 68, faces suspension or revocation of his medical license of 35 years if an administrative law judge finds him guilty of the charges filed by the Medical Board of California. A hearing is expected within six months, but no date has been set.

Cueva was working at Humana Hospital-West Anaheim, now called West Anaheim Medical Center, in 1990, when both of the incidents reportedly occurred.

In the first, Cueva mistakenly cut an artery while doing colon surgery on Edward Lanham, 61, of Buena Park, according to the Medical Board. After the operation, Lanham hemorrhaged, suffered cardiac arrest and died about two hours later, according to the board.

Nine days before Lanham’s death, a 76-year-old Garden Grove women sought medical attention from Cueva after she noticed a lump in her breast. She was admitted to West Anaheim the following month for a mastectomy after Cueva determined that the tumor was malignant, the complaint states.

Later tests determined that the tumor was benign and could have been treated. Cueva, according to the Medical Board, never told the woman that the surgery had been unnecessary.

A nurse who witnessed the surgery informed the woman two years later that the mastectomy was not needed, the board said.

The board also accuses Cueva of negligence in connection with the treatment of a third patient who underwent colon surgery.

Cueva retired from West Anaheim in January, hospital officials said. His license is valid until 1997.

Neither Cueva nor his attorney could be reached for comment.