A judge found that Dr. Michael Kamrava, who implanted Nadya Suleman with an excessive number of embryos, should keep his license. The judge stated that the doctor committed gross negligence in implanting the embryos and recommended that Kamrava complete an ethics course and continue to practice, but with the stipulation that he practice under the supervision of another doctor. The judge also said that Kamrava should be placed on five years probation.
These recommendations, which were released on January 24, came more than a year after medical board officials first decided to revoke Kamrava’s medical license.
On Thursday, the state medical board of California will consider the judge’s proposal.
Kamrava stands accused of gross negligence and incompetence in his treatment of Suleman, 35, and two other women patients. One is a 48-year-old who had complications after she became pregnant with quadruplets, and the other is a 42-year-old who was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer after she received fertility treatments.
The famous Suleman was 21 when she became Kamrava’s patient. He treated her for more than ten years and helped her conceive all 14 of her babies through in vitro fertilization.
Last year, in testimony about the octuplets’ conception, it was reported that Kamrava used 16 of Suleman’s eggs to create 14 embryos. He then implanted 12 in July of 2008. The babies were premature and are the world’s longest living group of octuplets.
Judge Daniel Juarez found that Kamrava committed gross and repeated negligence by the excessive implanting of embryos in January and July of 2008.
Juarez said that Kamrava was negligent in the care of the two other patients, and that he failed to keep good records of the patient who had ovarian cancer. However, Juarez did not think Kamrava was negligent in treating Suleman from 2002 to 2007, or incompetent in the treatment of all three patients.
Deputy Attorney General Judith Alvarado argued that Suleman should have been referred to mental health treatment by Kamrava when she continuously returned for fertility treatments not long after giving birth. Alvarado alleged that Kamrava operated outside standards of care when he agreed with Suleman’s requests to make new embryos rather than use those that she had frozen. Alvarado also said that Kamrava did not get informed consent from all three patients' clinical studies and IVF treatments.
Juarez disagreed with all of the allegations. He said that he was not persuaded that Kamrava was, “a maverick or deviant physician..” He also said that Kamrava “succeeded in presenting a defense to the majority of the allegations” against him.
Now it is up to the state medical board to make a decision regarding Kamrava.
Source: Los Angeles Times