UCI doctor accused of negligence

The California Medical Board has accused the former head of UCI Medical Center’s anesthesiology department of gross negligence and incompetence after he allegedly falsified records and assigned a resident to operating-room duties even though his left hand was in a cast.

If the charges are upheld, Dr. Peter H. Breen, who still practices at the Orange-based hospital, could be suspended or have his license revoked. He is also accused of repeated acts of negligence and acts of dishonesty or corruption.

The accusation, filed Oct. 30 by the state attorney general’s office, comes as the hospital’s anesthesiology department remains under state supervision for problems that arose under Breen’s watch.

The most serious allegations suggest that Breen and other anesthesiologists under his supervision filled out forms in advance. In one case on Nov. 8, 2006, Breen indicated on a form that a patient was “stable” and “comfortable” even before the operation had been performed.

In a separate case, Breen assigned an anesthesiology resident to operating-room duties between Sept. 19, 2005, and Oct. 11, 2005, even though the doctor’s left hand was in a cast, rendering him unable to perform “intubation or airway management.” That doctor was relieved of those duties after another physician raised concerns.

When contacted Friday afternoon, Breen was in the operating room. He referred calls to his attorney, who could not be reached. A UCI spokesman said it was a personnel matter and could not be discussed.

But in a letter to the editor published in The Times last month, Breen wrote, “With rare exceptions, the anesthetic record was accurate. . . . There was no patient injury, no compromise of care, no fraud, no malice and no monetary gain associated with pre-documentation.”

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services placed the hospital under state supervision in September after federal inspectors found deficiencies in the anesthesiology department. Inspectors returned to the hospital last week to check whether the problems had been fixed. That report has not been completed, but Dr. Zeev Kain, the department’s new chairman, said he had been given indications that anesthesiology is now “in the clear” and that the problems had been addressed.

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kimi.yoshino@latimes.com