Seven Triangle doctors make NC Medical Board’s disciplinary report

Seven Triangle doctors, two from Durham County and five from Wake County, made the N.C. Medical Board’s bimonthly disciplinary report for actions including allegedly failing to monitor a patient undergoing a screening colonoscopy to allegedly performing dubious genital examinations on patients with learning difficulties.

The report, nc-medical-board-report, covers March and April 2009.

Here are two notable cases:

In Raleigh, Dr. Richard D. Adelman’s license was suspended for one month, with an additional 11 months’ probation after the family practitioner allegedly failed to appropriately monitor a patient undergoing screening colonoscopy in his office.

The patient died during the procedure; an autopsy determined the patient died from cardio-respiratory arrest due to complications from sedation. According to the medical board, the patient was given Demerol and Versed before the procedure, and then eight minutes later, given and additional dose. Demerol is often used to relieve pain, while Versed is used to produce sleepiness or to relieve anxiety before surgery or other medical procedures.

The board reported there was no documentation of why the patient was administered additional sedation.

In Durham, Dr. Melvin David Levine allegedly performed genital examinations on five patients whom he was treating for learning difficulties. However, the board could not find any record that these exams were medically necessary.

According to the report, Dr. Levine told the board that if he is prepared to present testimony at a board hearing that all physical and neurological exams of these patients ‘were medically indicated and consistent with standard medical practice in identifying physical abnormalities that might cause, contribute to or complicate patients developmental difficulties.”

Nonetheless, last year Levine voluntarily deactivated his North Carolina medical license. In March, he agreed to permanently keeping his license inactive, to never apply for reinstatement in North Carolina and to refrain from practicing medicine in outside the state.