Attached an article from today's Miami Herald reporting that a Miami-Dade heart surgeon facing criminal charges for perjury and fraud for allegedly exaggerating his qualifications about his experience doing open-heart surgery while giving a deposition for the plaintiff in a Michigan malpractice case, in which the federal government was the defense.
I personally know Dr. Zakharia and was saddened to hear that a dedicated surgeon faces such serious charges.
What can we learn from this case?
- Carefully prepare your testimony
- If in doubt do not guess, but answer " I have to get back to you"
- Be prepared that your entire performance records are discoverable and can be subpoenaed.
Yours
Bernd
| Posted on Tue, Jan. 09, 2007 |  |
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| COURTS Heart surgeon faces criminal charges In a rare move, a federal grand jury indicted a Miami heart surgeon for allegedly lying in a Detroit malpractice case. jdorschner@MiamiHerald.com Alex Zakharia, 68, a Miami-Dade heart surgeon for more than 30 years, is facing criminal charges in Detroit for perjury and fraud. The doctor was indicted by a federal grand jury, which alleged that he exaggerated his qualifications about his experience doing open-heart surgery while giving a deposition for the plaintiff in a Michigan malpractice case, in which the federal government was the defense. Zakharia told The Miami Herald on Monday that the defense lawyers didn't understand him, he didn't exaggerate and the issue of his experience wasn't even material to the central subject in the case, which he said involved botching the presurgery tests of a patient. ''They should be going after the doctors who did this to this veteran, instead of a doctor who gave his honest opinion,'' Zakharia said. He has hired a lawyer and hopes to have the case resolved shortly. The qualifications of doctor-witnesses are often challenged in hotly contested malpractice lawsuits, but officials of the Florida Medical Association and the Florida Justice Association, the new name for the state's trial lawyers group, could not immediately recall any other examples of doctors being criminally charged with misstating their qualifications. Many doctors testify against other doctors only in proceedings far from their own states, and the Florida Medical Association has been pushing the Legislature to pass a law licensing out-of-state medical witnesses so that juries can be sure of their qualifications. Trial lawyers have vehemently opposed the measure, which has repeatedly failed to pass. The charges against Zakharia were pushed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Michigan, which was also the office that provided the defense attorneys in the malpractice lawsuit, brought by a man whose last name was Rodgers against the Veterans Administration and the U.S. government. Zakharia said notes in the medical case file clearly indicated that, before the coronary bypass surgery, an ultrasound to detect blocked carotid arteries was inconclusive and needed to be redone. But new tests were not done before surgery. During his deposition in that case, Zakharia was asked by defense attorneys about his qualifications on coronary bypass surgery. The indictment alleges Zakharia testified he performed 10 to 12 such operations a year and was the lead surgeon during the operations. When defense attorneys said records of the hospitals he mentioned -- Cedars and Miami Heart -- did not support his claims, he said the hospital records were in error, the government alleges. Later, an attorney ''who had paid him thousands of dollars to testify as an expert witness,'' asked him about the discrepancies in his experience, and Zakharia continued ''to mislead the attorney concerning the extent of his surgical experience,'' the indictment alleges. Zakharia said Monday he participated in those surgeries, but he made his role clear to attorneys. ``I told them I'm not the lead surgeon. I assist.'' But the indictment includes a portion of a transcript: Q: ``When you say you are doing about 10 CABG procedures a year, are you the attending physician, the guy in the chest doing the sewing and cutting?'' A: Yes. I'm not including many cases where I assist or supervise other younger surgeons, you know.'' Q: ``You would be the man who signs the operative note?'' A: ``Yes.'' Zakharia said Monday he doesn't testify in many malpractice cases and maintains a full practice. He will turn 69 later this month. ''I'm held in very high regard,'' he said. ``I did five procedures and saw 16 patients today.'' | |
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