FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2003Contact: Marla Augustine, Communications and Legislative Services, (402) 471-4047,
marla.augustine@hhss.state.ne.usAction Filed Against License of Physician
Lincoln—A petition for disciplinary action has been filed against the license of a Nebraska physician on the grounds of unprofessional conduct, gross negligence, a pattern of negligent conduct, grossly immoral or dishonorable conduct, and practice of the profession fraudulently, in violation of Nebraska statutes and regulations. Most of these allegations are the result of the physician’s connection with an outbreak of hepatitis C cases in Fremont.
Dr. Tahir Ali Javed, formerly of Fremont, is alleged to have:
- Improperly supervised or failed to supervise nurses employed by him, constituting unprofessional conduct and gross negligence;
- Repeatedly failed to protect his patients from a serious risk of harm due to improper infection control practices, constituting gross negligence and a pattern of negligent conduct;
- Practiced outside the normal standard of care, resulting in harm to at least 99 patients including death to at least one patient, constituting unprofessional conduct;
- Provided a patient with a false diagnosis during the time he was maintaining both a sexual relationship and a physician-patient relationship, constituting unprofessional conduct;
- Failed to keep adequate records of treatment and service, constituting unprofessional conduct;
- Impersonated other physicians in order to interfere in the treatment of a former patient, with whom he had a sexual relationship, constituting practice of the profession fraudulently;
- Violated confidentiality by obtaining test results on an individual with whom he had no physician-patient relationship, constituting unprofessional conduct; and
- Abandoned his patients by leaving the United States and failing to provide for the continued care of his patients, constituting grossly immoral or dishonorable conduct and unprofessional conduct.
The petition was filed at the Department of Regulation and Licensure by the Attorney General’s Office. The Chief Medical Officer of the Nebraska Health and Human Services System will hear the case and decide what action is to be taken against the physician’s license. The penalty for violating statutes and regulations regarding the practice of medicine and surgery in Nebraska can range from a reprimand to the revocation of all privileges to practice.
"These are serious allegations," said Dick Nelson, Director of the Department. "An individual’s license to practice as a health care provider is dependent upon conduct that complies with state statutes and regulations. Endangering patients through poor infection control practices and abandoning them with no substitute provider is not acceptable conduct."
Poor infection control practices include taking single-use syringes and drawing blood from patients, reusing the syringes to obtain saline from a source common to all patients, and then reusing the syringes to flush implanted vascular access devices, drawing blood and infusing medications and chemotherapy agents through these devices.
Dr. Javed returned to Pakistan, his home country, in July 2002.
The investigation of Dr. Javed has taken more than 550 hours of staff time in the Department of Regulation and Licensure, according to Nelson. To support their case, investigators have documented nearly 1,000 pages of interviews with physicians, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory personnel, patients and patients’ families. The investigation included an intensive review of hospital and clinic records and required the creation of a database to track the appointments of each patient from 1998 to mid 2002.
After being notified that there were a high number of hepatitis C cases in Fremont, epidemiologists at the Department of Regulation and Licensure and a representative from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the most likely link to the cases was care given at Dr. Javed’s oncology clinic.
Dr. Javed owned and operated a medical practice under the name of the Fremont Cancer Center from 1998 to mid 2002. Javed, a graduate of the University of Punjab, received a license to practice in Nebraska in 1997.
Hepatitis C is a viral infection of the liver and the most common bloodborne infection in the country. The virus causes no symptoms in most cases and the majority of carriers do not know they are infected. Infected individuals may experience fatigue, loss of appetite, and yellowing of the skin. The virus affects the liver and can eventually lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer. The illness is spread through blood and body fluids. It can be transmitted through intravenous lines or infections if proper infection control practices are not followed. The virus is not transmitted by casual contact. The risk of sexual transmission is low.
More information can be found on the HHSS Web site at www.hhs.state.ne.us or at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/c/index.htm
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