Professional Misconduct

Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation of Ivan C. Namihas, the Tustin gynecologist who escaped state criminal charges in connection with more than 100 sexual abuse complaints by his patients. The U.S.

Two years ago, after following Tiger Woods down the fairway for a couple of days at the U.S Open at Oakmont, I confided to friends an observation that seemed too absurd for public consumption. From the back, the dude looked like Barry Bonds. His neck was oddly wide. His shoulders were absurdly broad. His biceps were busting out of a tight shirt. For the first time, he wasn't just better than everyone else, he was also bigger. He looked not like a technician lining up a tee shot, but a slugger getting loose for batting practice.

If the allegations against Elizabeth Halverson are true, then the judge often handled her staff with the temperament of a toddler. Her former bailiff said he was forced to heat and serve her lunch, check the temperature of her ice water, brush lint from her robe, help her put on her shoes, massage her neck and cover her with a blanket before her nap. An assistant said Halverson, of the 8th Judicial District Court, made her answer questions -- under oath -- about courthouse gossip.

The boy who began life in a Midwest trailer park worked his way as a young man into the chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court, where he clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Though at times restrained and even shy, he rose to the top job at one of the nation's leading law schools, displaying a charm in public that sometimes dazzled donors, alumni and colleagues. He became a mentor and friend to students at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law; they lined up outside his office to see him.

The Medical Board of California licenses physicians and other medical professionals. It also investigates medical complaints and issues disciplinary actions. The most serious penalties include license revocation, suspension and probation. These are the physicians and surgeons of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties who were subject to serious disciplinary actions between Dec. 1, 2002, and Jan. 31, 2003, according to Medical Board documents.

GEORGETOWN, Texas - In emotional testimony Monday, a Texas man told a judge how it felt spending 25 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. “Brutal,” Michael Morton said. “But after a couple decades, I got used to it.” Morton, 58, who grew up in Los Angeles, was convicted in the 1986 beating death of his wife, Christine, at their home. He was exonerated and released almost a year and a half ago after DNA tests confirmed his innocence. Another man has since been charged in connection with the killing.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon inspector general has cleared the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan of allegations that he sent inappropriate emails to a Florida woman who was also involved in the scandal that led to CIA Director David H. Petraeus' resignation. The inspector general determined that Marine Gen. John R. Allen's emails to Jill Kelley, a married Tampa socialite with close ties to several senior military officers, did not constitute professional misconduct, a spokeswoman for the office said.

Not long ago, Dr. Mitchell S. Cairo gained prominence as one of the best things that ever happened to kids with cancer. The specialist at Children's Hospital of Orange County treated baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew's dying daughter. Last year, he appeared on the "Today" show and gained national repute for himself and the hospital for attempting to save her with an experimental transplant of umbilical cord blood.

In January 2003, after more than two years on a waiting list for a liver transplant, Saad Al-Harthi was finally considered sick enough to rank near the top. If a donated organ became available, he would have only a few hours to get to St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles. But that same month, Dr. Richard R. Lopez Jr., then-director of the hospital's liver transplant program, told him he faced a long wait and was better off at home in Saudi Arabia, according to Al-Harthi's son Majed.

On Brett Favre Pass, a legacy catches hell. It is a dead end street, but a sports bar there is a thoroughfare of debate. What's he doing? Where was he doing it? Who called whom? Why Brett why? On Brett Favre Pass, some folks are wishing he had thrown his last. "I just wish he had stayed retired," said Ron Enke, manager of Champion's sports bar, located a Hail Mary away from Green Bay's Lambeau Field.