Doctor in carving incident sentenced to probation
The New York physician who carved his initials in the abdomen of a patient who had just delivered a baby has been sentenced to five years probation and will serve no jail time. He is barred from applying for a medical license in the next five years.
The patient initially sued the hospital and the doctor, but she soon dropped the suit against the hospital and accepted a $1.75 million settlement from the doctor. At the time, risk managers told Healthcare Risk Management that the outcome of the lawsuit was surprising because the offense was so egregious that the plaintiff easily could have received more compensation.
Allan Zarkin, MD, a 61-year-old obstetrician, admitted through his lawyers that he used a scalpel to carve the letters A and Z into the abdomen of a 31-year-old patient, directly above the cesarean incision he had just closed. The letters are 3 inches high by 1.5 inches wide. (For more on the case, see HRM, March 2000, pp. 25-33.)
The Manhattan district attorney, Robert Sullivan, JD, charged Zarkin with felony assault. The victim, a dentist who was a friend of Zarkin before the incident, opposed the prosecution. The New York State Health Department cited Beth Israel Medical Center, where the incident took place, for seven violations, resulting in penalties of $14,000 against the hospital. The proposed fines amount to $2,000 per violation, the highest monetary penalty allowable under state law.
Zarkin surrendered his license to practice medicine. The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, is reviewing the incident as a sentinel event.
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