María García

Medical Board of California, go public with your pain

Should the California Medical Board make a public case for more money? Yes, William Heisel says, noting that it costs doctors more to protect the few bad doctors in their midst from punishment than it does to help maintain the state’s system of medical rules and guidelines.

Shadow Practice: Surgery center where patient died survived on painkiller scheme

The new filing by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency against Dr. Scott Bickman for his role in a California painkiller mill reveals a very sad truth. Maria Garcia’s death could almost certainly have been avoided.

The Shadow Practice, Part 13: Court records are both gold mine and minefield for documenting clinic’s troubles

Maria Garcia’s death after a cosmetic surgery procedure at Anaheim Hills Surgery Center has so far failed to roust the Joint Commission or the Orange County district attorney. The Medical Board of California is attempting to discipline one of the doctors involved.

The Shadow Practice, Part 12: Patient safety net still in tatters three years after court ruling

Prior to 2007, a clinic like Anaheim Hills Surgery Center could have been penalized or even shut down by the state of California. One court ruling changed that, allowing shady clinics to operate without the scrutiny given hospitals, nursing homes and clinics.

The Shadow Practice, Part 11: Joint Commission overlooks risky practices that led to patient death

The surgeons at Anaheim Hills Surgery Center had to be sweating.

The Joint Commission, one of the most powerful arbiters of whether a health center is deemed worthy of federal funding, showed up at the surgery center’s doorstep in April 2008 to review its records, its practices and its staffing.

The timing was terrible.

Just one month earlier, the center had added a brand new skeleton to its bulging closet.

The Shadow Practice, Part 10: Coroner rules mistakes that killed patient a "therapeutic misadventure"

When Dr. Harrell Robinson walked into the surgical suite to start a liposuction procedure on Maria Garcia he was already in a world of trouble.

The Shadow Practice, Part 9: Woman dies during cosmetic surgeries at unlicensed clinic

Maria Garcia smoked.

That was her one big vice, according to her brother and her estranged husband.

This otherwise healthy 39-year-old visited the doctors at Hills Surgical Center in Anaheim because she didn’t like the way she looked. To remedy that, the surgeons scheduled a series of procedures, all to happen in one day.

On March 13, 2008, Garcia died on the operating room table after a vaginal rejuvenation surgery and liposuction, another victim of the bad decisions made by the doctors at 145 S. Chaparral Court.

What is vaginal rejuvenation surgery?

Unemployment and mental health problems in undocumented immigrants

Thousands of immigrants who have lost their jobs are suffering all kind of mental disorders and they are not receiving any mental health care.

Medical Board of California, go public with your pain

Shadow Practice: Surgery center where patient died survived on painkiller scheme

The Shadow Practice, Part 13: Court records are both gold mine and minefield for documenting clinic’s troubles

The Shadow Practice, Part 12: Patient safety net still in tatters three years after court ruling

The Shadow Practice, Part 11: Joint Commission overlooks risky practices that led to patient death

The Shadow Practice, Part 10: Coroner rules mistakes that killed patient a "therapeutic misadventure"

The Shadow Practice, Part 9: Woman dies during cosmetic surgeries at unlicensed clinic

Unemployment and mental health problems in undocumented immigrants

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