Contact: Rev Ashiya Odeye JUSTICE REFORM COALITION Phone: 916 893-9793 Email: [email protected] October 6, 2014: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sacramento Woman of Color activist files civil and criminal claims Mercy San Juan Hospital and Mercy Medical Group Doctors Sued in Civil Court for Medical Battery, Fraud, and Breach of Contract. Criminal Complaints of Fraud and Falsification of Medical Records Filed. Suzanne Brooks, former patient of Mercy Medical Group and Mercy San Juan Hospital has filed civil and criminal complaints against Mercy San Juan Hospital, Dr. Wiley Fowler, Dr. Javid Javidan and 20 et al for failing to adhere to the surgical plan they made with her and 6 doctors during 6 months of consultation, examinations, tests and discussion during which she asked to have a cyst removed. If the cyst was attached to her bladder, Urologist Javidan committed to removing it. If the cyst was attached to her left ovary, Gynecologist Fowler committed to removing the cyst and her left ovary. Her right ovary was not to be removed unless cancer was found during the surgery. Because another Mercy Group Gynecologist to whom Brooks was first referred adamantly wanted to “take everything out while I’m there,” Brooks refused to be his patient and secured a second referral—to Dr. Fowler. Fowler agreed not to remove the right ovary if there was no cancer present. No cancer was present anywhere. The cyst was benign. Yet Fowler removed both ovaries anyway and now claims it disappeared or didn’t exist, despite evidence to the contrary. (The unnecessary removal of the reproductive organs of women of color, especially African Americans, has been a long standing continuing issue with racism in the health professions.) Examination, consultation and studies ordered by her endocrinologist prior to the surgery documents that Brooks had 2 functioning ovaries until the surgery by Fowler. The endocrinologist also advised against removal of the right ovary because removing both can bring serious health risks. Still months before the surgery took place, because of concern that, despite Fowler’s agreement not to remove her right ovary, he might do it anyway, Brooks sought a female gynecologist among Mercy Medical doctors and was referred to one. Because this gynecologist was not a surgeon, she suggested Brooks engage Urologist Javidan to be present at the beginning of the surgery and that he be selected to perform the surgery if the cyst was attached to her bladder. Javidan agreed to this role and confirmed the plan by telephone with Dr. Fowler with Brooks in his office listening to their discussion on the speakerphone. This plan was conveyed to her primary care doctor, Afshine Ghaemi and her endocrinologist, along with many friends and relatives, including the nurse practitioner who took her to the hospital and cared for her after the surgery. On the day of the surgery, a surgical nurse brought Brooks a final consent form which stated that the purpose of the surgery was to remove both ovaries. The cyst was not mentioned. Brooks refused to sign consent for this surgery which was not what she agreed to and refused anesthesia until the form was corrected. Fowler was notified but was not pleased to correct the form. Following discussion, Fowler hand corrected the consent form so that it stated that the cyst and left ovary, but not the right ovary were to be removed—if the cyst was attached to the left ovary and that if the cyst was attached to the bladder, Javidan would remove it. Brooks initialed the changes. Brooks asked to see Javidan before anesthesia to make sure that he was there and would take over the surgery if the cyst was on the bladder. Brooks later learned that Javidan never entered her operating room but instead operated on someone else. After the 2012 surgery, Fowler told Brooks that the right ovary had apparently disappeared, that “someone else must have taken it out another time.” When physically recovered, Brooks requested copies of her medical records and especially the final consent form. When she received them, she discovered that page one of the corrected final consent form had been removed and replaced with a page she had never seen. The new page, in a distinct new handwriting, stated that the purpose of the surgery was to remove the cyst, left ovary and left fallopian tube. Such a purpose was not possible because Brooks’s fallopian tubes had been removed more than 30 years ago. Brooks believes the mention of the fallopian tube was made to cover for the substance of the right ovary which was removed, sent to the lab in an unverified report, relying only on Fowler’s statement re what they were. Falsification of medical records is both a federal and state misdemeanor. Since the District Attorney’s office and the Sacramento Sheriff have both refused to investigate, despite extensive evidence provided to the Sheriff’s office, complaints are being filed with other enforcement agencies and civil rights organizations. “I may be like David up against Goliath,” says Brooks, “but justice in this case is important not only for me, but for all the other women of color who experience the unwarranted removal of their reproductive organs without their consent and , in my case, against my will as was made clear in 6 months of discussion and promises by Fowler and Javidan and assurances by Ghaemi. It has been reported that nearly 150 women in California prisons have been surgically sterilized in similar ways between 2006 and 2010. This is not an uncommon experience for women of color. It is time that it is stopped.”
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 00:19:04 +0000