O.C. plastic surgeon accused of sexual misconduct to surrender license

Dr. Mark A. Knight, an Orange County-based plastic surgeon under investigation by the Medical Board of California for sexual misconduct, has agreed to surrender his medical license Dec. 15, according to court papers filed by the board Thursday.

An accusation against Knight was filed with the Medical Board in April alleging sexual misconduct, abuse, negligence, dishonest or corrupt acts and failure to maintain medical records.

Knight and his Los Angeles-based attorney, Peter R. Osinoff, had submitted legal paperwork Nov. 15 to an administrative law judge agreeing to surrender the doctor’s license. Neither Knight nor Osinoff returned calls requesting comment Thursday.

According to the accusation, Knight massaged and kissed a 36-year old female patient during a post-operative exam in November 2007 and had sex in January 2009 with a 32-year-old tummy tuck patient. The patient’s husband walked in on Knight while the two were having sex on an examination table, the accusation states.

Knight has been co-owner of Anaheim Hills Surgery Center, where he took over a penile enhancement business after another doctor at the facility surrendered his license earlier this year to resolve Medical Board accusations of negligence and incompetence.

The Times wrote about Anaheim Hills Surgery Center last month in an article that examined lax regulation of surgery centers. Knight is the third doctor affiliated with the center to surrender his medical license since September 2009.

A fourth surgeon, Dr. Lawrence Hansen, 85, has a pending Medical Board accusation related to his alleged mishandling of a 2008 vaginoplasty that left a 39-year-old mother of five dead from what coroner’s officials determined was an accidental puncture wound.

In the last three years, lawsuits have been filed against Knight by the families of two patients, both women who died of blood clots after cosmetic surgeries performed by him at other Orange County facilities. One suit is in arbitration; the other was dismissed.

Under California law, surgery centers such as Anaheim Hills that are owned in part by a doctor must be privately accredited but are not required to be state-licensed. Surgery centers need state certification only if they accept federal health insurance, which Knight’s facility does not.

It was unclear Thursday whether the surgery center’s co-owner, registered nurse Gustavo Gutierrez, would apply for a license or find another doctor to share ownership.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com