Lawmaker doc fined for videoconferencing from operating room
A Maryland state lawmaker who is a plastic surgeon has been fined $15,000 and reprimanded for
twice participating in legislative meetings via videoconference from an operating room during surgery. Del. Terri Hill signed a consent order this month agreeing to the disciplinary actions from the Maryland Board of Physicians, which found the Democratic lawmaker guilty of “unprofessional conduct in the practice of medicine.
In Maryland’s legislative session this year, legislative committee meetings were held by videoconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The public was able to livestream the meetings and hearings.
“She was positioned under the surgical lights, focused downward, and would occasionally shift, reach for surgical instruments, or adjust the lights,” the board’s report said, noting the surgeon and other operating room staff “occasionally moved surgical equipment and blood-stained towels so that they were briefly visible on the video feed.”
In April, Hill told a disciplinary panel that she attended two committee meetings by videoconference, once in February to testify for less than three minutes on a bill she was sponsoring and again in March. She said that before the surgeries, each patient “gave permission” for her to join the meetings. “Patient 1 said that it was a little discomforting that attention was taken away from her during the surgery,” the board’s report said.
In its findings of fact published on its website, the board cited records that show Hill performed major abdominal surgery on one of the patients in February— and that the patient’s preoperative consent forms do not document consent or notice about Hill participating in a legislative committee during surgery.
Patient #1 did not recall being asked about participating in a legislative committee meeting by videoconference, according to the board’s report.
In the March case, records cited by the board said
patient #2 had major abdominal and back surgery — and the preoperative forms don’t document consent or notice.
https://apnews.com/article/business-health-maryland-8955d8984530fc97ef610034816b18ae
= new reply since forum marked as read
What a damn liar