Doctor Accused of Performing Unneeded Procedures

A Newport Beach doctor has been accused by state officials of performing unnecessary procedures on 10 people at Irvine Medical Center.

The accusation, filed by the Medical Board of California in Sacramento, seeks to revoke or suspend the license of Dr. Seijo Oi.

Authorities allege that Oi performed a lung diagnostic procedure called a bronchoscopy on the patients, in many cases repeatedly. In some cases the procedure was unnecessary and in at least one case was not properly performed, the accusation says.

The medical board investigation began in September 1997 after officials at Irvine Medical Center reported its staff had reviewed 67 cases handled by Oi and determined that in some of them bronchoscopy was unnecessary, said Deputy Atty. Gen. Steven Zeigen, who represents the state in the case against Oi. The hospital at the time ordered that all of Oi’s procedures be monitored by a proctor, he said.

Oi, who has had no previous disciplinary action, referred questions to his lawyer, Mark Hall, who disputed the allegations. “Dr. Oi believes he will be vindicated,” Hall said.

Dr. Marshall Grossman, the hospital’s chief of staff, confirmed that Oi still practices there but declined further comment.

The allegations, filed March 10, cite more than two dozen procedures done by Oi between 1992 and 1997. All were bronchoscopies, in which a flexible tube is pushed down the throat to view the upper portion of the lungs. It is typically used to look for obstructions and to sample respiratory secretions and tissues for biopsy.

The most serious allegation against Oi accuses him of twice doing the procedure on a 53-year-old patient who was suffering “acute respiratory failure” without first “securing an adequate airway for the patient” by performing a tracheotomy or intubating him. Oi did five bronchoscopies on this patient in two months in 1994.

In another case, Oi performed three bronchoscopies on a 62-year-old man, in one instance when treatment of the diagnosed ailment was “not an appropriate indication for bronchoscopy and is potentially dangerous to the patient,” according to the accusation.

The state medical board licenses 105,000 doctors. The board punished 383 of them last year, by either revoking or suspending their licenses, publicly reprimanding them or putting them on probation. The majority of those 383 cases involved accusations of gross negligence--166 cases--or unprofessional conduct--56 cases.

Accused doctors can concede the charges or dispute them, in which case they are granted a hearing.

Times staff writer Matthew Ebnet contributed to this story.