Medical Board Seeks to Discipline Doctor

NEWPORT BEACH —  A doctor has been accused by state officials of performing unnecessary procedures on 10 people at the Irvine Medical Center.

The accusation, filed by the Medical Board of California in Sacramento, seeks to revoke or suspend the license of Dr. Seijo Oi.

Authorities say Oi performed a lung diagnostic procedure called bronchoscopy on the patients, in many cases repeatedly. In some cases, the procedure was unnecessary, and in at least one case, it was not properly performed, the accusation says.

During a bronchoscopy, a flexible tube is pushed down the throat to view the upper portion of the lungs. It is typically used to look for obstructions and to sample respiratory secretions and tissues for biopsy.

The medical board investigation began in September 1997, after officials at Irvine Medical Center reported its staff had reviewed 67 cases handled by Oi and determined that in some of them, bronchoscopy was unnecessary, said Deputy Atty. Gen. Steven Zeigen. The hospital ordered that all of Oi’s procedures be monitored by a proctor, he said.

Oi, who has no record of previous disciplinary action, referred questions to his lawyer, Mark Hall, who disputed the allegations. “Dr. Oi believes he will be vindicated,” said Hall.

Dr. Marshall Grossman, the hospital’s chief of staff, confirmed that Oi still practices there.

The allegations, filed March 10, cite more than two dozen procedures done by Oi between 1992 and 1997. The most serious allegation accuses him of twice doing the procedure on a 53-year-old patient who was suffering “acute respiratory failure” without first “securing an adequate airway for the patient” by performing a tracheotomy or intubating him. Oi did a total of five bronchoscopies on this patient in two months in 1994.

In another case, Oi allegedly performed three bronchoscopies on a 62-year-old male patient, in one instance when treatment of the diagnosed ailment was “not an appropriate indication for bronchoscopy and is potentially dangerous.”