(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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Doctor accused of practicing in a manner harmful to the public, fined $1,000 [1]
['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- January']
Date: 2023-01-04
An eastern Iowa dermatologist accused of practicing in an unsafe manner has agreed to pay a $1,000 penalty and undergo additional training.
The Iowa Board of Medicine charged Dr. Ravindra Kumar Gangadhariah of Davenport with practicing in a manner that is harmful or detrimental to the public due to his alleged failure to possess and exercise a level of skill that’s expected of physicians. The board also charged Gangadhariah with improper management of medical records.
In its public statement of charges, the board alleged that at some unspecified time in the past, Gangadhariah returned an “unused” portion of lidocaine, a topical anesthetic, to a multi-dose vial. The board did not elaborate, although its settlement agreement with Gangadhariah suggests the doctor’s actions created a potential risk of infection.
With regard to Gangadhariah’s medical records, the board said it found “numerous instances where patients were billed for services rendered with incomplete or missing documentation.”
As part of the settlement agreement between Gangadhariah and the board, the doctor agreed to pay a $1,000 civil penalty and complete instructional courses on recordkeeping and on infection control related to the “use and storage of lidocaine.”
In 2017, a Quad-Cities patient named Tim Daley sued Gangadhariah for medical negligence, alleging the doctor had punctured four blisters on his leg after misdiagnosing them as scabies, then failed to prescribe antibiotics. As a result, Daley alleged, he was later hospitalized with MRSA, which can lead to staph infections.
The case was dismissed by the court after Daley’s attorney failed to disclose to the defense the names of any expert witnesses he planned to call in the case.
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