Probation in Lap-Band patient’s death

An anesthesiologist faulted for his treatment of a patient who died after Lap-Band surgery at a clinic affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign has been placed on five years’ probation by the Medical Board of California.

The agency had accused Dr. Daniel Shin of “gross negligence� in his treatment of Tamara Walter, a supermarket employee from Lawndale who died Dec. 26, 2010, three days after having the Lap-Band weight-loss device implanted at a clinic in Beverly Hills.

According to the medical board, Shin failed to adequately respond to Walter’s worsening condition after surgery and left her with a nurse for more than an hour, despite signs that she was struggling. Walter, 52, was eventually taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she died.

Shin was on probation with the medical board at the time of Walter’s surgery because of a 2007 criminal conviction for using a meat cleaver to assault someone attempting to serve him legal documents at his home in Torrance, according to medical board records.

The medical board and Shin agreed to the most recent discipline in a settlement that helped him avoid revocation of his license. In addition to his care of Walter, the medical board had faulted Shin for his treatment in 2009 of a woman who fell into a coma during childbirth at a hospital in Hemet and died.

Shin agreed to the discipline because it will allow him to continue practicing medicine and cannot be used against him in other proceedings, including a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Walter’s family, said Shin’s attorney, Albert J. Garcia.

“Given the serious nature of the allegations, and the expense and uncertainty of proceeding to hearing, Dr. Shin made the decision to settle on terms that he considered favorable, in light of all the circumstances,� Garcia said in an email. “And, the medical board, by agreeing to the settlement terms, obviously considered them adequate to protect the public interest.�

Regulators in New York were harsher than those in California. The New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct revoked Shin’s license in May, saying his assault conviction created “concerns about [his] mental health.� Shin had been licensed to practice in New York since 1996.

An attorney who represents Walter’s relatives in a lawsuit against 1-800-GET-THIN, Shin and the surgery centers, said she was upset to learn that Shin will be allowed to continue practicing medicine in California.

“It reflects an absolute failure on the part of the California medical board to carry out its duties to protect the citizens of this state,� attorney Kathryn Trepinski said. “Don’t the citizens of the state of California deserve the same level of protection as the citizens of New York? If the answer is yes, then why aren’t they getting it?�

Jennifer Simoes, a medical board spokeswoman, said Shin will be required to undergo extensive training and review while on probation, terms that are “adequate to ensure public protection.�

Shin’s first term of probation was related to his conviction for a Nov. 18, 2006, incident in which he swung a meat cleaver at a process server who went to his Torrance house to serve him legal documents. The process server was not injured. Shin pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to probation, which included 26 weeks of anger-management counseling, according to court records.

Shin was serving that probation when he treated Walter at a Wilshire Boulevard clinic now called New Life Surgery Center.

Konrad Trope, an attorney who represents the surgery center, said in an email that Shin has not worked at the clinic for more than two years. He said the clinic was not to blame for Walter’s death.

“Nowhere on the medical board report on Dr. Shin is there any allegation that there was any wrongdoing by New Life Surgery Center,� Trope said in the email.

The Lap-Band, manufactured by Irvine-based Allergan Inc., is a silicone ring that is surgically implanted around the stomach, limiting the amount of food patients can comfortably eat and causing them to lose weight.

1-800-GET-THIN promoted the surgery on freeway billboards, radio, television and the Internet before receiving a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration in December. The FDA said the ads were misleading because they failed to include adequate warnings about the risks of Lap-Band surgery, which is performed under general anesthesia. Allergan said this year that it would no longer sell the device to any companies affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN.

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