Bonita Springs Doctor Banned from Administering Stem Cell Treatments Investigated after Patient Dies
A patient is dead and a Bonita Springs cardiologist has had his medical license suspended by the state of Florida while police conduct a homicide investigation.
According to Naplesnews.com, the patient’s sister said her brother had incurable pulmonary hypertension and was desperately hoping that the stem cell therapy the doctor offered would be the miracle-cure for his illness. Instead, he died in the Bonita Springs office sometime after the cardiologist took fatty tissue out of his stomach and sent it to a lab to process stem cells. It is not clear whether the doctor later infused the patient with the concentrated stem cells.
The Florida Department of Health (FDoH) has now issued an emergency suspension of the doctor’s medical license because they claim he had violated a February 2011 license restriction, which did not bar him from seeing patients, but did prohibit him from doing anything with stem cells or bone marrow in his Bonita Springs office. The earlier restriction resulted from an unapproved stem cell treatment he performed on a patient in 2010 — a patient who later died.
One section of the FDoH emergency order states, “Nothing short of immediate suspension of [the doctor’s] license to practice medicine would be sufficient to protect the public from the danger of harm presented by [the doctor].”
There have been no arrests in the homicide investigation. The physician says he is cooperating fully with the investigation and is looking forward to a full investigation of the facts.
While we will be following the progress of this case, the Bonita Springs medical malpractice attorneys at Farah & Farah want to point out that cases like these can be minefields of complicated and conflicting facts that only an experienced legal team can wade through. If you have been harmed by a physician’s negligence, please call us at (800) 533-3555 for a free consultation today.
By Eddie Farah
