Criminal Charges Against Doctor Dismissed

A Studio City doctor with a long history of disciplinary actions by state officials was cleared Thursday of criminal charges of practicing medicine without a license.

Van Nuys Municipal Judge Leslie Dunn ruled that prosecutors could not prove that Gordon Sean Goei, who was arrested last month after a botched abortion, had read the notification that his license was suspended.

Goei, 57, was arrested on suspicion of murder after paramedics rushed a 42-year-old patient to Northridge Hospital Medical Center on March 19 with uncontrollable bleeding. Her aborted fetus, which authorities have said was 26 weeks old and could have survived outside the womb, was found in the trash at Family Planning Medical Group, the Van Nuys clinic where Goei worked.

Goei, whose license had been suspended March 13 by the Medical Board of California, was charged with practicing medicine without a license and performing an illegal abortion. Prosecutors at the time said that murder charges could not be sustained.

At a preliminary hearing Thursday, Goei’s roommate, Abraham Kasary, backed up the doctor’s claim that Goei did not know his license was suspended.

Kasary initially told police he left letters from the Medical Board, notifying Goie of the suspension, where Goie would find them, according to Trent Copeland, Goie’s lawyer.

“The truth was he took the letters and he hid them intentionally in an effort to protect Dr. Goie from what he knew was bad news,” Copeland said. Kasary had lied initially because he knew that hiding the letters “was bad,” Copeland said.

Kasary brought all four letters to court Thursday. Three were unopened, Copeland said.

“This is not a man who was practicing without a license in the cover of darkness,” Copeland said. “Six short days had passed [since the suspension] and he wasn’t given any benefit of the doubt.”

Copeland also said that Goei performed tests showing the fetus was actually 20 weeks old, not 26, as authorities contended.

Judge Dunn said she dismissed the case because prosecutors could not prove “willfulness.”

Prosecutors can refile the charges if they discover new evidence showing Goei knew his license was suspended. Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles district attorney’s office, said she was unaware of any new information against Goei.

Copeland said Goie is “happy and relieved” that the charges were dismissed.

His troubles are far from over, however. Goie faces a hearing today before an administrative judge at which regulators are seeking to revoke his medical license.

The Medical Board says Goie has a disciplinary history that fills a 99-page file, dating back to 1979, when he was found guilty of using a false name in his practice. He was given probation.

He was again put on probation in 1984 when regulators said he made wrong diagnoses and performed unnecessary operations. In 1992, he was placed on probation for “knowingly making” a false medical document.

The most recent case came to a head Sept. 19, 1997, after the board found him guilty of negligence and incompetence in his care of several patients. The board voted to revoke his license, but a Los Angeles administrative law judge instead placed Goei on seven years probation on condition he get more education and take exams. Failing an exam led to his March suspension.