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| Dr. Andrew Rudin, who was part of St. Joseph's cardiology department, has been accused in a federal indictment of being the supervising physician at a medical group in Tennessee that improperly prescribed opioids and other drugs. |
SYRACUSE,
N.Y. – St. Joseph’s Health is reviewing the vetting process it used to
hire a doctor arrested last week who had previously been cited for
providing poor care in another state.
Dr. Andrew S. Rudin, a cardiologist, was charged last week in a national roundup of medical professionals accused of illegally distributing prescription pain pills.
Drug Enforcement Agents escorted Rudin out
of St. Joe’s Wednesday, less than three months after the hospital
publicly welcomed him to its staff in a news release touting Rudin’s
expertise in treating atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heart
beat.
Tennessee health department
records show Rudin voluntarily gave up his clinical privileges at a
hospital after being cited for “substandard or inadequate care.” The
records say Rudin voluntarily surrendered his privileges at
Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Tennessee to avoid an
investigation “relating to professional competence or conduct.”
A federal judge issued a default judgment
of $1.6 million against Rudin in 2012 to settle a malpractice lawsuit
by a patient operated on in 2010 at Jackson-Madison Hospital. Rudin
performed an “ablation” procedure on the patient, Joe D. Williams, to
stop atrial fibrillation, according to court records.
Ablation
involves threading narrow tubes into the heart to burn heart tissue to
stop abnormal electrical signals from causing atrial fibrillation.
Sandra Williams, the patient’s wife, testified
Rudin burned a hole through her husband’s esophagus during the
procedure that nearly killed him and left him disabled. She said Rudin
never responded to the lawsuit or paid the judgment. Neither Rudin nor
his attorney could be reached for comment.
When The Post-Standard/Syracuse.com asked
St. Joe’s if it was aware of the malpractice case and Rudin’s surrender
of his hospital privileges in Tennessee, the hospital said, “The
circumstances surrounding Dr. Rudin’s credentialing at St. Joseph’s
Hospital are presently under review.”
St. Joe’s initially put Rudin on administrative leave, but said today it fired him after reviewing the criminal allegations.
Federal
prosecutors accused Rudin, another doctor and a nurse practitioner of
participating in a scheme to improperly prescribe opioids and other
drugs in Jackson, Tennessee. Rudin pleaded not guilty last week in
federal court.
“ … the criminal matter
involving Dr. Rudin is not connected to St. Joseph’s Health in any way
but to activities connected to his practice in Tennessee more than two
years prior to his affiliation to St. Joseph’s Health,” Dr. Joseph
Spinale, St. Joe’s chief medical officer, said in a prepared statement.
From
August 2016 to January 2017 Rudin supervised a nurse practitioner in
Tennessee who prescribed drugs to patients who didn’t need them in
exchange for money, notoriety and sexual favors, according to the
indictment.
Jeffrey W. Young, the nurse
practitioner, once branded himself as “Rock Doc” as part of an effort
to start a reality TV show. Rudin gave Young’s practice the appearance
of legitimacy by allowing his name to appear on Young’s prescriptions
and was paid for supervising the practice, the indictment says. The
indictment does not say how much Rudin was paid.
Full Article & Source:
Syracuse doc arrested at hospital was cited for poor care in another state
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