| Debbie 2005-05-18, 11:46 am |
| From http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0415hall15.html
Eye doctor barred from any surgery
Amanda J. Crawford
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 15, 2005 12:00 AM
Dr. Gary W. Hall, one of Phoenix' most prominent physicians, has been
permanently barred from performing or assisting in surgeries in Arizona.
The ophthalmologist, a former Olympic swimmer and father of Olympic
gold-medal winner Gary Hall Jr., has an extensive disciplinary history with
the Arizona Medical Board. He accepted the ban on performing surgeries in a
consent decree approved by the board on Wednesday.
The agreement resolves six cases dating to 1998 in which the board says
patients were misdiagnosed, surgeries were improperly performed and patients
suffered severe complications or worsened vision after his treatment.
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Hall, of the Gary Hall Laser Center in Phoenix, may still practice medicine
but is on probation for five years, allowing the board to review patient
records during that time.
At Wednesday's meeting, some board members said they would have preferred to
revoke Hall's medical license. But the consent decree spares the board a
protracted legal fight since it cannot be appealed.
"I'm not sure he should be practicing medicine, but this at least takes him
out of the operating room," said Dr. Tim B. Hunter, board chairman.
Hall's attorney, Steve Myers, told the board that the agreement does not
mean Hall accepts all of the allegations and that he does not believe it
would hold up in court. But Myers said his client decided not to challenge
the board because "it is time for him to move on with his life."
Hall had previously announced he was retiring from surgical practice. In an
e-mail on Thursday, Hall told The Arizona Republic that he would continue to
practice medical ophthalmology and consult with patients but another doctor
has taken over all of the surgical responsibilities at his laser center.
Hall, son-in-law of Charles H Keating Jr. of savings and loan scandal fame,
said he is involved in several other projects including developing a line of
sunglasses for children and a new solar-rating system for sunglasses.
"I am disappointed with the decision of the Arizona Medical Board," Hall
wrote in the e-mail. He said he thinks the board needs to reform its
peer-review process, and he complained that the reviewing physician in his
case was not qualified.
Hall has said before that he has performed about 50,000 surgeries. He was
one of the Valley's pioneers of radial keratotomy, or RK, surgery, which he
was prohibited from performing by the medical board in 1999.
The complaints addressed by the consent decree involved the treatment of
nine patients and Hall's cataract and LASIK vision surgery. In one patient
with a tumor on his left eye, Hall "failed to recognize the possibility of
carcinoma" and did not refer the 81-year-old man to a specialist. In another
case, he insisted that a 61-year-old patient with a history of head trauma
was suffering from a cataract and not a detached retina as she feared. Less
than a month after the diagnosis, the woman awoke blind in one eye because
of a detached retina that required major corrective surgery. The youngest
patient involved in the cases was just 18 when she had LASIK surgery by
Hall. During the surgery, a corneal flap was severed, but he continued the
surgery anyway and the board said that resulted in worsened vision. That
patient settled a malpractice suit against Hall.
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