Doctor Responsible for Deaths in Patients’ Drug Overdose
Posted on June 7, 2012 Written By: iadminlaw
Many Americans have a big fear of going to doctor and dentist appointments. Most of the time, this fear is unnecessary since regular doctor and dentist visits are beneficial and helpful. After all, medical professionals are here to help patients and to prevent any future illnesses. Yet, many patients have an unhealthy anxiety that something may go wrong. While most of the time doctors have had positive input in their patients’ health, there is still that occasional doctor that abuses his or her prestige. The medical malpractice of these disreputable doctors stems the unhealthy fears of numerous patients. Sadly, it can take just one doctor to cause the fear of thousands.
Xanax (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On Tuesday, June fifth, a former California doctor was present at a preliminary hearing. The doctor, Hsui-Ying “Lisa” Tseng, faced charges of second-degree murder of three male patients—Joey Rovero, Vu Nguyen, and Steven Ogle—by purposely prescribing them drug overdoses. Since her arrest in March, Tseng has been in custody, pleading not guilty to the 24 felony counts held against her.
During Tseng’s court case, a witness attested of three male patients who came to Tseng. All three of these young male victims ended up dead after the doctor gave them prescriptions without proper care and diagnosis beforehand.
Another person brought to the court case is pain specialist, Dr. William Strauser, from San Diego. After reviewing the records Tseng kept of the medical conditions of the three victims, Strauser stated that he did not know what Tseng was intending as treatment for them. Tseng had not made it clear whether she intended to follow up with her patients. And sadly, each man only visited Tseng once before dying of an overdose.
English: Xanax 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mg scored tablets (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This kind of medical malpractice surfaces once in a while but is certainly not common behavior. The wrongful death Tseng may have caused is why she can be possibly sentenced to 45 years of prison. When the young males came to Tseng describing their symptoms, she uncomprehendingly prescribed them large amounts of sedatives and opiates.
In one situation, Joey Rovero, a 21-year old patient of Tseng’s, came to her office in Rowland Heights and described the pain and discomfort he was feeling. Rovero was on high doses of Oxycontin, Xanax, and Soma. As a solution, Tseng decided to dramatically decrease his daily dose of Oxycontin from 480 and 640 milligrams to a low of 90 milligrams. The average dose is normally 140 milligrams. Strauser has said that dramatically decreasing doses can create withdrawal effects on a patient. Tseng also decreased his Xanax drug from eight milligrams to two milligrams. This decrease could have eventually caused Rovero seizures.
If you have been the victim of medical malpractice that has caused minor or severe side effects or have lost a loved one due to a medical professional’s carelessness, you should contact a California wrongful death lawyer to help you file a claim. The kind of pain and suffering Tseng has caused to the victims’ families did not go by unnoticed as she is currently paying the price for it in court. You can take the same legal action by calling a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer and making sure the guilty individual acknowledges their wrong-doings for the distress and suffering they have caused.
