Doctor Failed to Spot Cancer, Board Charges : Medicine: State panel accuses Northridge physician of gross negligence, incompetence in treating two patients.

A Northridge doctor failed to recognize cancer symptoms in two women patients who developed the disease in their digestive tracts and had to undergo radical surgery as a result, according to a complaint filed by the state Medical Board.

Dr. Jae Whan Lee, 54, was accused by the board of gross negligence and incompetence for his treatment of the patients. One woman had her stomach removed, and the other lost her rectum and anus, the complaint said.

Contacted at his home, Lee declined to comment on the Medical Board complaint, dated April 3. The board is trying to revoke or suspend his doctor’s license, which he has held since 1978. Lee, a graduate of a South Korean medical school, is a family physician and radiologist who practices at a Koreatown clinic.

According to the complaint, Lee began treating one woman, identified only as J.K., in 1984 after she complained of stomach pain, nausea, loose bowel movements and bloody stools.

After ordering X-rays on the woman in October, 1986, Lee diagnosed gastritis, a stomach inflammation, and an ulcer. He put the patient on prescription medicine.

Two months later, the ulcer was still present and the woman said she also was losing weight. The Medical Board said such symptoms should have prompted Lee to evaluate her for cancer but he did not do so.

In May, 1988, the patient returned to Lee’s office complaining of stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea and chills. She also had lost 13 more pounds since her last visit. The doctor again diagnosed an ulcer and kept her on the prescription drugs.

The woman was still experiencing stomach problems and weight loss when she consulted another doctor in September, 1989. That physician diagnosed malignant gastric adenocarcinoma, which resulted in the surgical removal of her entire stomach, the Medical Board said.

The board said the second patient, identified as O.S., was 72 when Lee began treating her in 1988 for loose and possibly bloody bowel movements. Lee diagnosed chronic diarrhea and prescribed medication.

Although her symptoms warranted it, Lee failed to evaluate her for cancer by visually inspecting her colon, a procedure known as a colonoscopy, the board said.

In February, 1989, after conducting some tests, Lee diagnosed irritable colon syndrome in the woman and again failed to check for cancer, the board charged.

By June, 1989, the patient went to another physician who diagnosed rectal carcinoma, which was confirmed by a biopsy. The woman later had her rectum and anus surgically removed by doctors who also created a permanent colostomy, an artificial opening in the waist through which bodily wastes can be passed.

The board said Lee should be disciplined “based on his demonstrated lack of knowledge, ability and skill in the interpretation of a patient’s history, symptoms and clinical findings which warrant diagnostic testing for cancer of the digestive system.”