DWC Suspends 12 Providers and Practitioners

Wednesday, November 15, 2017 | 0

The Division of Workers’ Compensation suspended 12 more medical providers and practitioners, bringing to 85 the total number of people suspended since Assembly Bill 1244 took effect at the start of the year.

The bill requires the division to suspend providers and others who have been convicted of fraud or other crimes relating to the practice of medicine, as well as those who have lost their license to practice medicine.

On Tuesday, the DWC announced the suspensions of:

• Paul Richard Randall of Orange, a health care marketer and owner of Summit Medical Group who pleaded guilty in in 2012 to federal charges for his role in a spinal surgery kickback scheme. Randall admitted to paying kickbacks to providers who referred work comp patients to Tri-City Regional Medical Center in Hawaiian Gardens, and to owning a distributorship firm that marked up the price of implants provided to the hospital for use in the surgeries. Randall, who was arrested in September for undisclosed violations of his pre-sentencing release, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.
• Harold “Harry” Persaud, a physician from Westlake, Ohio, who was convicted in October 2015 of health care fraud and money laundering, The charges stem from Persaud’s practice of performing unnecessary catheterizations, tests, and stent insertions, and causing unnecessary coronary artery bypass surgeries as part of a scheme to overbill Medicare and private insurers by approximately $7.2 million, the division said. Persaud was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, and the Medical Board of California revoked his license Sept. 1.
• Jeremy Goodwin, a physician in Mt. Shasta, who had his license revoked Sept. 8 for violating terms of his 2014 probation from a prior disciplinary action by the Medical Board of California. Goodwin was charged with gross negligence for his treatment of a patient who died one day after receiving an excessive dosage of the opiate drug fentanyl.
• Christopher Dean Owens, a San Francisco physician who lost his license to practice medicine in California in July for self-administering illicit drugs.
• Guven Uzun, a Marina Del Rey physician who lost his license in July for violating the terms of his 2011 probation due to charges of negligence and falsifying medical records.
• Farhad Hafezi, a physician in Covina who was convicted on felony charges of sexual assault involving a minor and is now a registered sex offender. His medical license was revoked by the Medical Board of California in 2014.
• Troy Ericsen Palmer, a Chino physician who surrendered his license to the Osteopathic Medical Board of California in April after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.
• Keith Robert Deorio, a Santa Monica physician who had his license revoked by the Medical Board of California in July after repeated violations of the Medical Practice Act.
• Christopher Allen Scott, a vocational nurse in Palm Springs who had his license revoked by the California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians in January following findings that include the alleged use of controlled substances.
• John Thomas Moranville, a Lafayette physician whose license was revoked by the Medical Board of California on Aug. 18 following an evaluation finding that he suffers from an illness that impairs his ability to practice medicine safely.
• Joseph Struzzo, a Cathedral City physician who had his certificate revoked by the Medical Board of California in August following an evaluation finding that he suffers from an illness that impairs his ability to practice medicine safely.
• Adly Ayad Azab, a physician in West Covina who had his license revoked by the Medical Board of California in August following an evaluation finding that he suffers from an illness that impairs his ability to practice medicine safely.

More information on the 12 providers named on Tuesday, including court documents and disciplinary orders, is here.

A full list of providers who have been suspended since the start of the year is here.