Medical License

A Burbank physician has surrendered his medical license to the Medical Board of California following accusations of incompetence, negligence and fraud. By surrendering his license, Jack Eglin, 88, is barred indefinitely from practicing medicine in the state, board spokeswoman Candis Cohen said Thursday. The action becomes effective on July 5. Eglin could not be reached for comment.

The prosecution of Dr. Gerald J. McCann is not just another testament to the awful things that can happen to women pursuing the ideal body. It highlights the problem of doctors who, like McCann, don't carry malpractice insurance, and it calls into question the performance of state officials whose job is to protect patients. A Los Angeles County grand jury has indicted McCann, 66, for his treatment of two women who nearly died after he performed liposuction on them.

Exercise a bit, rest a bit, exercise a bit more. Researchers think training in bursts, and relaxing in between, beats long, steady sessions of aerobic exercise. But the Harvard and Columbia doctors who think the idea has merit also realize they must overcome doubts raised by the checkered past of its prime supporter, Irving Dardik. In 1995, Dardik lost his New York state medical license over his beliefs about how the body responds to exercise.

A Chatsworth psychologist surrendered her medical license on Wednesday as state regulators investigated a 1998 battery conviction, authorities said. Sue Collins, 47, whose office is on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, stipulated to the license surrender, said Tom O'Connor, executive officer of the Department of Consumer Affairs' Board of Psychology, the state agency that issues the licenses.

A task force of undercover officers raided three northeast San Fernando Valley stores Friday looking for illegal pharmaceuticals but found only small quantities of banned or controlled substances. Despite the small amount seized--several boxes--the problem of illegal pharmaceuticals, sold by people with no medical expertise, is huge, health care officials say. Profits in the illegal trade can be substantial.

Three years after the overdose death of Hollywood producer Don Simpson, the state Medical Board accused Westside psychiatrist Nomi Fredrick of overprescribing addictive drugs and enabling Simpson to persist in his substance abuse. On Wednesday, the California attorney general's office served a 90-page formal accusation on Fredrick seeking to revoke her medical license.

Diane Parker did what President Clinton is accused of doing. As a U.S. postal supervisor in Florida, she had sex with a subordinate, lied about it and got caught. As a result, she lost her job, was tried and convicted, and now is serving 13 months in a federal prison. Barbara Battalino had sex with a patient in her Veterans Affairs office in Idaho. She lied about it and was caught and she lost her job and medical license. Prosecuted, she pleaded guilty and was fined $3,500.

A prominent South County psychiatrist has been accused by state officials of repeatedly having sex with a female patient and prescribing narcotics to another patient in exchange for cash. The petition filed by the California Medical Board in Sacramento seeks to revoke the medical license of Dr. Irwin I. Rosenfeld, former president of the Orange County Psychiatric Society. The board accuses the Laguna Hills doctor of gross negligence, corruption, making false statements and incompetence.

State regulators on Monday suspended the medical license of a doctor accused of trying to abort a teenager's full-term baby last month and of causing a woman to bleed to death in April. The Arizona Board of Medical Examiners voted unanimously to temporarily bar Dr. John I. Biskind from practicing medicine. Board members said the suspension was an emergency measure to protect the public, pending the outcome of the board's investigation into the two cases.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will soon require physicians to post their medical licenses and certificates in a prominent place in their offices and clinics. The board instructed the Department of Health Services to distribute fliers to libraries, medical offices, clinics and other public areas urging people to ask a physician about their certification before receiving treatment, said Cam Currier, spokesman for Supervisor Mike Antonovich.