San Diego Pediatrician Under Investigation For Allegedly Using Dirty Needles On Patients

Speaker 1: 00:00 A San Diego pediatrician is under investigation for allegations that he used dirty needles on children. KPBS reporter Priya [inaudible] says the California medical board just looking into the case. San Diego pediatrician, Bright Gerber or was arrested in 2013 for possession of ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms during a traffic stop on his way to the burning man festival. According to documents from the medical board of California, Gerber entered into a six month diversion program that would allow him to keep a clean criminal record, but it did have an impact on his medical career. Gerber was investigated by the State Medical Board and placed on a two year probation that required him to undergo random drug testing and to stay out of trouble. Carolyn Olstaad took her oldest son to Dr Gerber from 2010 to 2012 before he was caught with the drugs. I was shocked, um, because he always seemed super buttoned up, you know, so I, it definitely changed my perception of him. Speaker 1: 01:04 She says she understands doctors can make mistakes in their personal lives. It's when that behavior crosses into the doctor's office that she has a problem. If he wants to go out and party and stay out till two in the morning like I, that's totally up to him. If he's doing it and then coming and seeing my baby, then I'm going to have a problem. You know, for if, if he seemed under the influence or anything like that, yes, I would have brought it up. The drugs incident happened away from his office, but that's not true with the dirty needles. A few years later, a medical assistant reported seeing Dr Gerber use expired and unauthorized needles from a box that contained dead insects and what appear to be rodent droppings. According to the assistant, he used them on a two and 10 year old patient. The incident allegedly happened while Dr Gerber was working at Scripps Coastal Medical Center in Hillcrest. In a statement, the scripts clinic in Hillcrest said quote, when it was discovered that he had brought in nonstandard needles from home, a full investigation and disciplinary actions were taken, which included removing him from patient care. Scripps also reported the issue to the California Medical Board. Carlos via Toro is with the state medical board. I reached out to him to find out what happens when doctors get in trouble Speaker 2: 02:22 and every disciplinary um, decision that the board makes is tailored around the facts of the case. So there is a no one size fits all answer for uh, for discipline. Speaker 1: 02:33 Vittorio says there are no red lines in the process. Nothing a doctor can do that will automatically cause them to lose their license. He says the Attorney General's office makes a recommendation to the medical board on how a doctor will be professionally punished. Ultimately, the board has the final say. Speaker 2: 02:53 The board's discipline can be as severe as licensed revocation, however, it can include probation and a Speaker 3: 03:00 public letter of reprimand. Speaker 1: 03:02 If through the course of the investigation, investigators believe a doctor has broken criminal law, they would contact the appropriate law enforcement agency to pursue criminal charges. Gerber now off probation for the prior offense is being investigated again through the medical boards process. While it's been years since Carolyn Olstaad has taken her son to Dr Gerber, it has made her think a little more about how much research she should be doing before she chooses the doctor. You expect that the medical community would have gotten rid of the doctors that aren't any good so you can trust that whenever you walk into a hospital that you'll be cared for and while the board says it's their top priority to investigate any complaints and discipline doctors who violate the medical practices act, they say there are ways you can look into your doctor too. The board has an app you can download that will notify you if your doctor, his medical license has been changed in any way. There is a toll free number you can call where representatives from the board can answer any questions you have about your doctor's credentials and you can go onto the medical boards website and search for your doctor to see if any disciplinary action has ever been taken against them by the board. Speaker 3: 04:18 Jeremy May is KPBS reporter, Prius Schriefer and prio. Welcome. Thanks. Now the allegations of this doctor using dirty needles on patients is shocking. Do we know if there was any contributing factor, like maybe substance abuse that may have caused his behavior? Speaker 1: 04:33 Right. This story is so bizarre and shocking that that's kind of the number one question I've been getting from people ever since they heard it. Um, I obviously don't want to speculate. Um, what we do know is that he had been in trouble before, um, and he had gotten arrested as I said in this story with um, some psychedelic mushrooms and ecstasy. I'm on his way to the burning man festival and you know, he was able to avoid a criminal charges on his record because he entered into a diversionary program. The Medical Board put him on probation for two years and he did actually violate that probation in March of 2018 after failing to provide bodily fluids for a drug test. So he was fine. $350 for that. And then fast forward a few years and now we're with these dirty needle allegations. Speaker 3: 05:23 Script's coastal medical center. It says it reported the issue to the State Medical Board. So what's happened since they reported it. Speaker 1: 05:29 So this happened back in 2016 and that's when they reported it to the state medical board. They did fire him after that and take him out of patient care. Once a cause of care complaint is filed with the medical board, it ends up being reviewed by a physician in the same field as the doctors. So in this case a pediatrician. Then it goes to investigators from the consumer affairs health investigation unit. Those are sworn peace officer. So law enforcement agents, if they find that this doctor violated the medical practice act, then they refer the case to the office of the attorney general and then they file the formal charging document. At that point, the doctor or the accused doctor has 15 days to request a hearing or they can enter into a settlement. If they do decide to request a hearing, they go in front of an administrative law judge. And that judge basically comes up with a proposed decision that includes the disciplinary actions and then it goes to the medical board who then votes on whether or not they want to accept that those disciplinary actions or try to change it. And those disciplinary actions can range from going on probation, getting a formal letter of reprimand a site and find program or getting a license suspension. Speaker 3: 06:44 And how long has this been going on so far? Speaker 1: 06:47 So that's also interesting because uh, as I mentioned, it was filed back in 2016. Um, but that process can take a while. So the complaint process can take an average of 98 days. Um, that was in, in the years 2017 to 2018. The investigation process takes an average of 510 days and then the filing of the accusation, and that's where we are now. That can take 63 days. So just right there, we're talking about a year and a half on average. And then the legal process, which is the process where the hearing happens. And, uh, you know, the discipline, the recommendation for the discipline, uh, that can take another 322 days. So we're talking years Speaker 3: 07:30 and, and because there's been no final judgment on the case, there's nothing posted publicly and the doctor can go out and get another job as a pediatrician. Speaker 1: 07:39 So yes, theoretically they can, um, it isn't posted publicly until you get to the filing of the accusation. So that's how this situation is in public domain right now because the accusation was filed. But when the complaint was filed, um, that was never posted publicly anywhere. So even if the employer where the, you know, allegations happened, decides to not employ this doctor anymore, uh, he, he or she could just go to a different, uh, medical practice and there's no way that they can really see that these complaints were filed. And it kind of makes sense because, you know, obviously anybody can file a complaint against a doctor and they want to make sure that it's thoroughly vetted, um, before it's entered, you know, into public domain. Like I said, but you know, then because the process takes so long, like I said, oftentimes years, many of these doctors could theoretically practice for years after a serious complaint. Like this one is filed. Speaker 3: 08:37 This statement in your report that in these investigations there is no standard red line. A doctor can cross. That means an automatic loss of license. That statement is pretty amazing. There's no statutory violation that could end a doctor's career. Speaker 1: 08:52 I asked that question explicitly to the person that I spoke with from the board and he said, no, there is not. Um, I said, is there a number of times you can be on probation before your license is revoked? Um, and he said, no, there is no definitive, you know, if you're on probation three times, you will automatically lose your license. Now, what I can say is that if the charges go through the criminal system first, this went through an administrative system and they did tell me that, you know, if they find that criminal, uh, there was potentially a violation of a criminal law, it will then go to sort of the regular civilian court system and be referred to a local law enforcement agencies. So theoretically, you know, or hypothetically I should say if something like murder was to happen and a doctor was convicted of murder, they would go to jail. And so, you know, obviously they're not going to be able to practice, uh, medicine from jail. Um, but you know, in these situations where it's more of an administrative process, um, it can take time Speaker 3: 09:52 for investigations that have been completed. You mentioned that there's an app people can download to check on the status of their doctor's license. Can you tell us how that works? Speaker 1: 10:00 Yeah, so it's just called the medical board of California app. You can go into your app store and look for it and you can actually put about a dozen doctors that you want to track. So these can be all of your doctors and any change in their license, uh, that happens through the medical board. You'll get a notification on your phone. Speaker 3: 10:18 I've been speaking with KPBS reporter, Priya Schriefer and thank you very much. Thanks. KPBS reached out to Dr Gerber for comment on this story and didn't hear back from him. Speaker 4: 10:31 Uh.