Dr Nath top doctor?
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 5:33 pm
Hi,
Does Dr Nath still perform surgeries on childrens with brachial plexus?
I have just read this article:
Board says ‘top doctor' isn't one
By RICK CASEY Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 13, 2009, 8:33PM
He's been cited by a book called America's Top Doctors.
He was written up in People magazine and featured on CNN in 2007 for performing, for free, complex nerve-bypass surgery to restore movement to the arm of an Iraqi infant injured during birth when a gunfight forced an emergency delivery at home.
He received international publicity for working with a urologist in Houston on a nerve transplant process to restore sexual function after prostate operations.
And he received a patent for a new approach to treat nerve injuries that, he says, “ensures a much better outcome for the patient, including less recovery time and less opportunity for complications from surgery.”
And now, Dr. Rahul Nath has been accused by the Texas Medical Board of performing surgeries on 20 babies and children that were not justified by the medical records of the patients.
The Medical Board, which is charged with policing the state's doctors, accused Nath of “unprofessional or dishonorable conduct that is likely to deceive or defraud the public or injure the public.”
Nath is based in Houston but travels widely throughout the United States and elsewhere to do surgery on babies who suffer from “brachial plexus palsy.”
The condition involves injury to the nerves in the shoulder and arm when a baby becomes stuck during surgery and must be extracted with force. It sometimes leads to disfiguring and very limited mobility of the arms and shoulders.
It has been a lucrative practice for Nath, who, according to records in an unrelated lawsuit, paid $8.295 million ($5.7 million in cash) several years ago for a house in Shadyside, an exclusive, gated neighborhood abutting Rice University.
After an investigation and an attempt to reach an agreed sanction, the Medical Board filed a formal complaint regarding 20 children on whom Nath performed surgery between 2002 and 2005. Among the allegations are these:
• Nath used procedures that were experimental at the time, but he told the families and insurance companies his was the only method for treating the injuries.
• He did his own MRI scans before each surgery. “The quality of the images from the MRI is poor and most of the MRI exams are incomplete,” the board claims. “The descriptions in Respondent's MRI reports are inaccurate and, in some cases, Respondent describes pathology that cannot possibly be seen.”
• Nath “inappropriately billed” patients for the taking the MRI scans and interpreting them.
• Nath advertised on the Internet that he is the best brachial plexus surgeon in the country, a claim that “is not readily verifiable.”
• Nath's fees are “excessive.” In one case, he “performed a 17-minute procedure for one of the 20 patients and submitted a bill for $25,500, which would represent a cost of $1,500 per minute of surgery.”
Nath filed a response with the board flatly denying each of the allegations. Neither he nor his lawyer returned calls Tuesday.
Other accusations
It wasn't the first time Nath has been accused of wrongdoing. He and a former partner, the late Dr. Saleh Shenaq, once had a thriving joint venture at Texas Children's Hospital. In 2003, they made a combined $4.06 million doing shoulder surgeries on children and babies.
The partnership ended in acrimony. Nath sued Shenaq for defamation, and Shenaq countersued, accusing Nath, among other things, of performing unauthorized surgeries and refusing to treat certain patients because of their race.
The suit was eventually dropped by both sides. Meanwhile, Texas Children's closed its brachial plexus clinic after receiving allegations regarding Shenaq. (Nath had left Texas Children's to set up his own “institute.”) Shenaq filed a suit against Texas Children's that resulted in a confidential settlement.
The next step for the Medical Board is to conduct more research in preparation for a mediation requested by Nath and a possible trial before a state administrative judge. One Medical Board staffer estimated the trial could be in six months.
rick.casey@chron.com
Does Dr Nath still perform surgeries on childrens with brachial plexus?
I have just read this article:
Board says ‘top doctor' isn't one
By RICK CASEY Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 13, 2009, 8:33PM
He's been cited by a book called America's Top Doctors.
He was written up in People magazine and featured on CNN in 2007 for performing, for free, complex nerve-bypass surgery to restore movement to the arm of an Iraqi infant injured during birth when a gunfight forced an emergency delivery at home.
He received international publicity for working with a urologist in Houston on a nerve transplant process to restore sexual function after prostate operations.
And he received a patent for a new approach to treat nerve injuries that, he says, “ensures a much better outcome for the patient, including less recovery time and less opportunity for complications from surgery.”
And now, Dr. Rahul Nath has been accused by the Texas Medical Board of performing surgeries on 20 babies and children that were not justified by the medical records of the patients.
The Medical Board, which is charged with policing the state's doctors, accused Nath of “unprofessional or dishonorable conduct that is likely to deceive or defraud the public or injure the public.”
Nath is based in Houston but travels widely throughout the United States and elsewhere to do surgery on babies who suffer from “brachial plexus palsy.”
The condition involves injury to the nerves in the shoulder and arm when a baby becomes stuck during surgery and must be extracted with force. It sometimes leads to disfiguring and very limited mobility of the arms and shoulders.
It has been a lucrative practice for Nath, who, according to records in an unrelated lawsuit, paid $8.295 million ($5.7 million in cash) several years ago for a house in Shadyside, an exclusive, gated neighborhood abutting Rice University.
After an investigation and an attempt to reach an agreed sanction, the Medical Board filed a formal complaint regarding 20 children on whom Nath performed surgery between 2002 and 2005. Among the allegations are these:
• Nath used procedures that were experimental at the time, but he told the families and insurance companies his was the only method for treating the injuries.
• He did his own MRI scans before each surgery. “The quality of the images from the MRI is poor and most of the MRI exams are incomplete,” the board claims. “The descriptions in Respondent's MRI reports are inaccurate and, in some cases, Respondent describes pathology that cannot possibly be seen.”
• Nath “inappropriately billed” patients for the taking the MRI scans and interpreting them.
• Nath advertised on the Internet that he is the best brachial plexus surgeon in the country, a claim that “is not readily verifiable.”
• Nath's fees are “excessive.” In one case, he “performed a 17-minute procedure for one of the 20 patients and submitted a bill for $25,500, which would represent a cost of $1,500 per minute of surgery.”
Nath filed a response with the board flatly denying each of the allegations. Neither he nor his lawyer returned calls Tuesday.
Other accusations
It wasn't the first time Nath has been accused of wrongdoing. He and a former partner, the late Dr. Saleh Shenaq, once had a thriving joint venture at Texas Children's Hospital. In 2003, they made a combined $4.06 million doing shoulder surgeries on children and babies.
The partnership ended in acrimony. Nath sued Shenaq for defamation, and Shenaq countersued, accusing Nath, among other things, of performing unauthorized surgeries and refusing to treat certain patients because of their race.
The suit was eventually dropped by both sides. Meanwhile, Texas Children's closed its brachial plexus clinic after receiving allegations regarding Shenaq. (Nath had left Texas Children's to set up his own “institute.”) Shenaq filed a suit against Texas Children's that resulted in a confidential settlement.
The next step for the Medical Board is to conduct more research in preparation for a mediation requested by Nath and a possible trial before a state administrative judge. One Medical Board staffer estimated the trial could be in six months.
rick.casey@chron.com