Forgery, a fugitive and butt lift deaths: Miami-Dade doctors and nurses disciplined
Theft, allegedthe forgery and surgeries that weren’t supposed to happen but left people blinded or dead show up on October and November list of disciplinary actions against Miami-Dade medical professionals.
In alphabetical order...
Donald Chung, Registered Respiratory Therapist, Miami Beach
The Florida Department of Health’s administrative complaint against Chung, licensed since 1998, says that when given a urine test in February before being hired at Jackson Health System, he tested positive for amphetamine.
Chung “failed to provide a lawful prescription and legitimate medical reason for using Amphetamine,” the complaint says.
An administrative complaint starts the discipline process.
Jacqueline Figueroa, Registered Nurse, Homestead
The administrative complaint against Figueroa said an independent psychiatric evaluation diagnosed Figueroa with “opiate use disorder, alcohol use disorder, cannibis use disorder, other hallucinogen use disorder, major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder with a history of panic attacks.”
The evaluating doctor “opined that [Figueroa] cannot currently practice her profession with reasonable skill and safety.”
Figueroa’s case goes to the state Board of Nursing. She’s been licensed since Sept. 30, 2015.
Dr. Jeanne Germeil, North Miami Beach
Miami Herald stories chronicled the fugitive odyssey of Germeil, convicted of illegally dispensing opioids before she jumped bond and fled to Mexico and Haiti. Germeil is now in federal prison in Tallahassee, with an Aug. 7, 2034 release date.
Her medical license has been revoked.
Odalis Lopez, Certified Nursing Assistant, Miami
Lopez, a certified nursing assistant since 2010, pleaded guilty to one count of theft from the elderly exceeding $50,000 in Miami-Dade court, according to the administrative complaint filed against her license.
Whatever was coming in the way of state discipline, Lopez didn’t wait for it and voluntarily surrendered her license.
Dr. Hermann Mellon, Sunny Isles Beach
The administrative complaint against Mellon, 67, accuses him of running a pill mill out of Stirling Medical Center in Hollywood.
From Dec. 2, 2008, through Aug. 25, 2009, “[Mellon] inappropriately prescribed or prescribed inappropriate or excessive quantities of oxycodone, Percocet, Valium and Morphine to Patient R.G.” the complaint says. And when R.G.’s urine on his first visit came back positive for benzodiazepines and oxycodone, the complaint says, Mellon didn’t monitor R.G.’s drug use in any way.
The complaint says he didn’t “assess R.G. for substance abuse;” didn’t “implement alternative treatment modalities;” didn’t refer him to any specialists; didn’t “document a comprehensive treatment plan;” didn’t “justify or document justification for the course of treatment” of R.G..
This pattern, the complaint says, was repeated with four other patients.
Mellon has voluntarily surrendered his license.
Dr. Samer Obid, Miami Beach
A June Miami Herald story detailed the administrative complaint’s accusation that Obid forged letters from Jackson staff to get a fellowship. Officially, Obid neither admits nor denies the allegations.
Also officially, the Board of Medicine’s final order issues a reprimand against his license; a $10,000 fine; demands $2,686.99 reimbursement of Department of Health investigation and prosecution costs; five hours of continuing medical education courses in Laws, Rules and Ethics; and evaluation by the Professionals Resource Network, which monitors doctors with mental health or substance abuse issues.
Alejandro Perez, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, Miami
Perez was a registered nurse from May 21, 2003, until his license was converted to an APRN license in October 2018. That license has been revoked after Perez performed three stem cell injections beyond his qualifications while working at a Sunrise stem cell clinic.
Perez had twice failed the Florida tests to be a medical doctor. The three patients were blinded. The clinic, U.S. Stem Cell Clinic, has moved to Weston.
Dr. David Purpora, Miami
The Final Order from the Board of Medicine says Purpora disputed some material facts in the administrative complaint, which kicked the matter over to the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH).
But, the order says, Purpora eventually “failed to respond to discovery, including requests for admission, failed to respond to the DOAH’s order to show cause and indicated to (the Department of Health’s) counsel that he had no intent to further participate in any proceedings before DOAH.”
So, as far as the Board of Medicine is concerned, there are no disputed facts. The administrative complaint used Purpora’s treatment of five patients at Summerlin Medical Centre in Lee County to accuse him of running a pill mill.
The complaint says Purpora did nothing after getting a fax on Dec. 7, 2016, that Patient R.H., whom Purpora was prescribing hydromorphone and MS Contin, was getting methadone from another clinic. Or, that a fax that same day told Purpora that R.H. had tested positive for unprescribed amphetamines the previous month.
R.H. died June 16, 2017, the complaint said. The medical examiner fingered “acute combined effects of methadone and aprazolam.”
Purpora’s license has been revoked.
Dr. John Sampson, Coral Gables
An October Miami Herald article detailed accusations in an emergency restriction order, that Sampson “performed unauthorized plastic surgery procedures,” at Seduction Cosmetic Center’s Southwest Eighth Street location and one of those surgeries ended in death for a Brazilian butt lift patient.
Now, an administrative complaint has been filed against Sampson. It says the fatal surgery was his seventh of the day.
Dr. Stephanie Stover, Miami
Stover has been licensed in Florida for 20 years with no discipline problems. She has performed 800 to 1,000 Brazlian butt lifts with only “minor complications” and “100 to several hundred” of those clean surgeries were on “genetic males,” men or transgender women.
She has “something of a specialty in performing BBLs on genetic males.”
That’s all from the account of the disputed facts hearing about a Brazilian butt lift surgery with the ultimate complication: G.R., a 46-year-old transgender woman, died after the surgery at Xiluet Plastic Surgery.
In a Brazilian butt lift, fat is sucked out of the abdomen and back by a tube called a “cannula” and inserted into the buttock area, but not into or under the gluteal muscles. The administrative complaint from the Department of Health accused Stover of injecting fat under G.R.’s gluteal muscles in violation of Florida statutes. Stover said she didn’t.
Administrative law judge Robert S. Cohen thought the Department of Health proved in the hearing that there had been fat in G.R.’s derriere muscles “with some of that fat migrating to G.R.’s lungs to create a fatal embolism.”
“The conclusion does not mean that Dr. Stover performed the BBL on G.R., resulting in misplaced fat injections ... intentionally, recklessly or without regard for G.R.’s safety, nor did the Department present any evidence to support such a finding,” Cohen wrote. “Moreover, Dr. Stover was not charged with failing to utilize the best practices, procedures and instrumentation in performing the BBL on G.R....”
She is fined $5,000 and put on probation for a year.
Dairo Torres, Registered Nurse, Coral Gables
The California Board of Nursing accepted the voluntary surrender of Torres’ license there on Dec. 29, 2020. Torres retained the Florida license he’d had since June 12, 2014.
But the voluntary surrender in another state counts as an action against the license held in Florida. So, he is fined $1,624 in investigative costs, sentenced to an eight-hour course in critical thinking and another eight-hour course in anger management as well as two years probation.
Why did Torres surrender his license in California? According to state of California documents available online, Torres was sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years probation after violating a civil harassment restraining order. Two weeks and two days earlier, on May 13, 2019, officers hit Torres with the restraining order and advised him to stay away from the protected woman. Later that day, Torres went to the woman’s workplace and was taken into custody.
Once out of jail in July, Torres continued to violate the order by calling the woman’s work and trying to reach her by mail. On Sept. 5, 2019, a community service officer saw Torres “enter the workplace of the protected party with his elderly grandmother.”
Torres pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor violations on Dec. 2, 2019. He got 364 days in jail and 36 months probation.
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Forgery, a fugitive and butt lift deaths: Miami-Dade doctors and nurses disciplined."
