Medical License

Dr. Ivan C. Namihas, a Tustin gynecologist accused of about 50 instances of alleged sexual abuse of his patients, effectively lost his medical license Tuesday when he did not appear in Los Angeles County Superior Court to defend himself. In a letter mailed to the court, Namihas' attorney said "unending publicity" about the case was one reason the 59-year-old doctor decided to "surrender his medical license" and forgo a defense in court. Dep. Atty. Gen.

Dr. Mark A. Knight, an Orange County-based plastic surgeon under investigation by the Medical Board of California for sexual misconduct, has agreed to surrender his medical license Dec. 15, according to court papers filed by the board Thursday. An accusation against Knight was filed with the Medical Board in April alleging sexual misconduct, abuse, negligence, dishonest or corrupt acts and failure to maintain medical records. Knight and his Los Angeles-based attorney, Peter R. Osinoff, had submitted legal paperwork Nov. 15 to an administrative law judge agreeing to surrender the doctor's license.

State health officials have revoked the medical license of a longtime Long Beach obstetrician who they say injured four infants by prematurely administering anesthesia to mothers in labor, then using forceps improperly. Dr. Archibald F. Forster, 67, was ordered by the state Board of Medical Quality Assurance to surrender the medical license he was issued in 1954. Investigators determined his actions were "so far below the accepted standard of care" that they constituted "gross negligence and incompetence," according to the decision made public this week.

A Culver City physician who has performed 5,000 penile enlargement surgeries--and triggered scores of malpractice suits--had his medical license suspended Friday by a state administrative law judge who said he was guilty of gross negligence and incompetence. The ruling went against Dr. Melvyn Rosenstein, who in advertising calls himself the world's leading authority on penis enlargement surgery.

Dr. Conrad Murray faces new accusations in an ongoing inquiry that will determine whether officials will revoke the already suspended medical license of the man convicted in the 2009 death of music icon Michael Jackson. The state attorney general's office, which submitted its first round of accusations to the Medical Board of California in February, has added three allegations to the original complaint, according to papers filed June 27. In addition to the original filing, which said Murray's license could be revoked because of his criminal conviction and alleged failure to maintain adequate records, Murray is now accused of "gross negligence," "repeated negligent acts" and "incompetence" for the "inappropriate administration of dangerous drugs.

Wisconsin's medical examining board has launched an investigation into a prominent Milwaukee pediatrician who practiced for years after he admitted to the Boy Scouts of America that he had molested two boys in 1987. Dr. Thomas Kowalski was expelled from the Boy Scouts that year after saying he had masturbated while fondling two teens under his care at a Wisconsin Scout camp where he was serving as a volunteer doctor. The allegations were detailed in one of hundreds of confidential files on suspected sexual abusers reviewed by The Times in recent months.

The medical license of Dr. Vicki G. Hufnagel, a controversial Beverly Hills gynecologist best known as an anti-hysterectomy crusader, has been revoked after a Superior Court decision upheld the original revocation issued in 1989. The latest action, taken on Sept. 3, comes after a lengthy series of appeals.

A psychiatrist accused of having illicit relations with a Harvard Medical School student who later committed suicide gave up her medical license Thursday, days before a state hearing. Dr. Margaret Bean-Bayog, 49, has denied all allegations of impropriety in treating Paul Lozano, 28, who died in April, 1991, of a cocaine overdose. Bean-Bayog can continue to work as a psychotherapist but cannot prescribe medicine.