Law Med Blog

CRNA, NP, Sisters And 2 Cops Charged With Federal Drug Violations [VIDEO]

April 30, 2012 lawmed 2 Comments

In a case of ‘how many professionals who we expect better from can band together to run a drug ring’ we turn to Beaufort county North Carolina where 3 nurses, a pharmacist and two police officers have been indicted on federal felony charges for improperly obtaining and distributing controlled substances.

Registered Nurse Practitioner Amanda Bunch had her license to practice suspended by the North Carolina Board of Nursing in 2010 for improperly prescribing controlled substances and only had it reinstated two months ago. Now she’s been arrested on federal charges for the same acts for which her license was suspended. It is alleged that Bunch was writing prescriptions for various pain killers, weight loss medications and sleep aids, all controlled substances, for her two sisters, one a Certified registered nurse Anesthetist and another a pharmacist, as well as a another nurse, a State Highway Patrol sergeant and another police officer, … (Continued…)

email

print

Former Judge Was Addicted To Narcotics On Bench, Had Sex During Breaks

April 08, 2012 lawmed 2 Comments

Knox County, Tn., Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner was heavily addicted to prescription drugs during his final two years on the bench. So addicted in fact that he was having sex and buying pills during courtroom breaks, even purchasing from convicts he had previously sentenced. His addiction has called into question many of the cases he presided over, including one of Knoxville’s most notorious murder trials.

Baumgartner stepped down from the bench and pleaded guilty in March 2011 to a single count of official misconduct. It took another eight months before an investigation the seriousness of the judge’s drug problem It has cast doubt about whether he was sober enough to be sitting on the bench.

Another judge has tossed out the convictions from the high-profile murder case and ordered new trials. Many other defendants are filing motions for new trials. Due to the sheer number of people convicted in … (Continued…)

ND Doctor In Propofol Rape Case Has Pleas Withdrawn Will Face Trial [VIDEO]

April 06, 2012 lawmed 10 Comments

We told you previously about the case of Dr. Jon Norberg, 41, of Fargo who was accused of raping a woman who was not his patient (turned out to be his wife) after administering the anesthetic propofol to her more than 30 times over an 18 month period. In January, in a deal with prosecutors, he plead guilty to felony reckless endangerment and a misdemeanor count of sexual assault. Compared to rape charges these were a walk in the park.

Norberg was accused of drugging his wife with the anesthetic propofol and sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions. Norberg has claimed his wife consented to receiving the propofol and that both of them agreed upon it as a treatment her chronic pain from an autoimmune disease. His estranged wife, a physician herself, claims otherwise and has painted her husband as a sadistic liar. Despite his plea to the misdemeanor sexual … (Continued…)

Calif Strip Mall Doc Charged With Murder In Prescription Drug Deaths

April 02, 2012 lawmed No comments

A Rowland Heights, California physician pleaded not guilty Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court to murder charges in connection with three fatal prescription drug overdoses.

Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng D.O., 42, is charged with three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Vu Nguyen, 28, of Lake Forest; Steven Ogle, 25, of Palm Desert; and Joey Rovero, 21, an Arizona State University student from San Ramon, east of San Francisco. She also is charged with 20 felony counts of prescribing painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs to people who had no legitimate medical need for the medications. She is being held on $3-million bail.

Judge Shelly Torrealba denied a request from Tseng’s attorney, T. Edward Welbourn, to lower her bail. “I see this situation no differently than any other murder situation,” Torrealba said. “Three people are dead.”

The charges against Tseng are a relatively rare attempt to hold a physician criminally … (Continued…)

Judge Rules Dr. Desai Competent For Trial In Nevada Hepatitis C Case

February 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Citing a report from two psychiatrists and a psychologist at a state mental facility in Sparks who found that Dipak Desai is “competent and obviously exaggerating his symptoms” from strokes in September 2007 and July 2008 to avoid trial, Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen declared him competent to stand trial. Desai received six months of treatment at the facility last year after being court ordered there after state psychiatry experts declared him incompetent.

“The only impediment to competency asserted by the defendant is self-reported memory loss, secondary to two strokes, regarding facts relevant to his criminal charges,” the judge said. “Memory loss itself, even if true, is not a bar to prosecution of an otherwise competent defendant.” Desai’s lawyer, Richard Wright, contends that Desai is incapacitated by his strokes and other physical and mental ailments, to the point he is legally incompetent for trial.

The ruling cleared the way … (Continued…)

Full Circle: Winkler County Atty Tidwell Has License Suspended

February 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Things have been coming full circle in the extraordinary case of the Winkler County Texas Nurse Whistleblower Case over the past year and that circle may just have closed. The last bit of justice seems to have been served with the suspension of former Winkler County Attorney Scott Tidwell’s license to practice law in the state of Texas.

It all began in 2009 when Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, two nurses working at Winkler County Memorial Hospital who were responsible for Quality Assurance, Risk Management and Medical Staff privileges advised hospital administrator Stan Wiley that one of their physicians, Dr. Rolando Arafiles, had violated the standard of care, hospital policies and made some serious medical errors. Wiley refused to take any action and told the two they were prohibited from reporting Arafiles to any outside agency without his approval, in violation of state law.

Concerned over the safety of their … (Continued…)

Desai Competancy Hearing Held Friday In Nevada Hepatitis C Case

January 29, 2012 lawmed No comments

The issue of the competency of Dr. Dipak Desai to stand trial was again before Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen Delaney on Friday. Back in February of 2011 two court appointed medical experts found Desai incompetent for trial and he was ordered into custody at a state mental health facility.

Dr. Steven Zuchowski, a state psychiatrist, treated Desai last year at the Lakes Crossing state mental facility in Sparks. The goal of treatment at the facility was to determine whether Desai could be made competent and to implement treatment as appropriate if he could.

Zuchowski testified Friday that despite suffering two strokes, the embattled former physician-owner of Las Vegas outpatient colonoscopy clinics at the center of a 2008 Hepatitis C outbreak, is mentally competent to stand trial on criminal charges. He told the court that Desai’s memory was affected by strokes in 2007 and 2008, but that he was … (Continued…)

Alonna Norberg Says Propofol Rape Case Hubby A Liar

January 12, 2012 lawmed No comments

Dr. Jon Norberg appeared before cameras last Friday proclaiming his innocence to allegations that he injected his wife with the powerful anesthetic propofol against her will on multiple occasions and then raped her. This was after the state of North Dakota indefinitely suspended his medical license and the surgeon’s open court no contest plea to misdemeanor sexual assault and guilty plea to felony reckless endangerment. We have discussed why Norberg’s statements are false on their face previously. Now Alonna Norberg, the pediatric emergency medicine physician wife of Jon Norberg is speaking out in a statement sent to Forum Communications.

“In all of these legal arenas, there is a factual record demonstrating that Jon Norberg used a powerful drug in an inappropriate fashion and under dangerous conditions and sexually assaulted me,” Alonna Norberg said in her statement. “I did not consent to him doing so.”

Norberg has claimed his wife … (Continued…)

Felon Dr. Norberg Defense Of Propofol Use On Wife FAILS [Video]

January 08, 2012 lawmed 1 Comment

In what can only be described as a pathetic attempt to justify what was at best gross medical negligence and unethical behavior, and at worst chemical incapacitation for the purpose of committing serial rape, Dr. Jon Norberg, 41, of Fargo N.D. went on camera Friday, days after pleading guilty to lesser charges of felony reckless endangerment and misdemeanor sexual imposition.

If the public learned anything about propofol from the Michael Jackson case , it is the fact that it should NEVER be administered in someone’s home under ANY circumstances, and that it is a very dangerous drug in untrained hands. The good Dr. Norberg would have us believe that he is somehow qualified and even experienced in the administration of propofol and that a reasonable physician might inject his wife with it over and over to treat an illness. There is not an ounce of truth in this. Not an … (Continued…)

SHOCKER: Victim In Propofol Rape Case Is Wife Of Convicted Dr [VIDEO]

January 06, 2012 lawmed No comments

In a stunning development, the victim in the Fargo, N.D. ‘propofol rape’ case has stepped forward and identified herself to the public. She is none other than Alonna Norberg, the wife of the accused, now guilty, Dr. Jon Norberg who entered an Alford plea of guilt in court yesterday. For months the only description of the victim had been a ‘woman who was not a patient’ of Dr. Norberg.

After Dr. Norberg’s plea he made statements to the media which were false according to Mrs. Norberg who says she has come forward to set the public record straight. “I would have preferred that these matters remain private to shield my children, but the legal cases and news coverage make it important that I correct the public record,” she said in a statement released by her attorney. According to court documents, she has filed for a divorce. However her husband claimed … (Continued…)

Conrad Murray Asked To Surender His Calif MD License

January 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Conrad Murray, convicted in November of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson has been asked by the California Medical Board to surrender his license, an official said Tuesday. Murray was formally asked on Dec. 29 to surrender the medical certificate as a result of his felony conviction, said Dan Wood, a spokesman for the medical board. Murray, who was sentenced to four years behind bars, is currently in jail and has until the middle of this month to return the certificates, Wood said. Following that, the California Medical Board will at a later date move to revoke Murray’s medical license according to Wood.… (Continued…)

Search

Meta

Subscribe

Pages

Categories

Archive

Links

Share

Tag Archives: felony

FEATURED VIDEO

Recent Posts

RN Guilty of Murder