After a vigorous debate among experts, the state medical board this week dismissed accusations of negligence against a perinatologist at Kaiser Permanente's Fresno Medical Center who was involved in two tragic deliveries.
The Medical Board of California had accused Dr. Hamid Safari of mishandling the procedures. One child died in the delivery room in April 2005, and the other died months after her January 2004 birth.
The Times published a front-page story about the cases in October 2007, reporting that doctors and nurses had complained repeatedly to higher-ups about Safari's medical and interpersonal skills before the deliveries, according to internal documents, a lawsuit and interviews. Federal health inspectors subsequently faulted Kaiser Fresno's medical oversight.
In the medical board case, however, "the evidence established that the respondent complied with applicable standards of care," wrote Cheryl R. Tompkin, the administrative law judge who heard the case and recommended dismissal to the board.
The case pitted two sets of medical experts against each other in a debate over what precisely constituted the standard of care in complex deliveries.
In her written opinion, Tompkin said Safari could have kept better records establishing the patients' understanding of medical risks, but she did not see "any cause for discipline of the respondent's license." The board, which has final say on the discipline of doctors, adopted the verdict Tuesday.
Safari, who has been suspended from treating Kaiser patients for the last year, was relieved and gratified by the ruling, said his lawyer Stephen Schear.
"This is a complete vindication of Dr. Safari by a neutral, unbiased judge," Schear said. "I'm extremely happy to see justice really working."
The allegations have given rise to conflicting responses. Last January, federal health inspectors found that if the hospital had acted on complaints and kept a closer watch over its medical staff, the two babies might still be alive.
Although the Kaiser hospital suspended Safari from caring for patients, the affiliated physicians group continued to pay his salary.
The Times' story from October 2007 reported that Safari repeatedly and vigorously attempted to draw out a baby boy, a twin, with a vacuum extractor in 2005. The first twin had been delivered naturally, but the second died in the delivery room because of a severed spinal cord.
