Hello marco672-ga,
Thank you for an interesting question.
Dr. Aldrete does have a history that spans a number of issues in several states.
Most notably, he was involved in a messy scandal at Cook County
Hospital in Chicago in the late 1980's/early 1990's. From the
materials I looked at, it was not clear how deeply Dr. Aldrete was
actually involved. Instead, it was one of the doctors he supervised
who was the key focus of the case, which involved charges of
conducting unethical experiments with improperly tested drugs given to
pregnant women without their full knowledge or consent. However,
Aldrete, as the Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology, took a lot
of the heat, and eventually resigned from the hospital for "health
reasons".
Aldrete's name also shows up in a number of court cases (which, I
suspect, is certainly not unusual for a modern-day medical
practitioner).
Herewith are summaries or excerpts from the records I uncovered. If
anything here is not clear, please let me know prior to rating this
answer. Just post a request for Clarification to let me know how I
can help you further, and I will be happy to do so.
pafalafa-ga
==========
[The Chicago Tribune carried a number of articles on Aldrete's
problems at Cook County. I cannot reproduce them in full here, but I
have given some brief excerpts to give you the most pertinent details
of his resignation]
County Hospital doctor resigns
Chicago Tribune
Apr 1, 1989. pg. 5
A Cook County Hospital department chairman suspended for his role in
allowing unauthorized experiments on pregnant women resigned Friday.
Dr. Antonio Aldrete, chairman of the anesthesiology department, cited
personal health reasons for leaving...
Aldrete was responsible for supervising Dr. Lawrence Lavine, who
resigned Feb. 1 after being accused of giving 240 women the
anticonvulsion drug Dilantin without their consent. Aldrete was
suspended from his chairmanship for six months on March 15...
==========
Chicago Tribune
Mar 15, 1989. pg. 3
County suspends doctor over childbirth experiments
The Cook County Board voted in closed session Tuesday to suspend one
Cook County Hospital department chairman and start disciplinary
proceedings against a second because of unauthorized experiments
conducted on women going through childbirth.
Dr. Antonio Aldrete, chairman of the department of anesthesiology, was
suspended from his chairmanship for 6 months for failing to properly
supervise Dr. Lawrence Lavine, who resigned Feb. 1...
==========
Doctor quits over testing
Chicago Tribune.
Feb 3, 1989
Dr. Lawrence Lavine, Cook County Hospital physician accused of
conducting unauthorized experiments on women in childbirth, resigns.
Dr. Antonio Aldrete is placed on probation...
==========
[The New York Times also carried an article on the problem,
highlighting a defamation suit filed not by Aldrete, but by his
colleague. The article summarizes the defense of the actions in
administering the drugs]
July 6, 1988
Page 12
Doctor Facing Ethics Inquiry Sues for Slander
CHICAGO
One of two doctors under scrutiny for treating pregnant women with an
anti-convulsion drug filed a $26 million lawsuit today, charging that
a hospital medical director had slandered him by saying the practice
violated ethical principles.
Richard Brauer, a lawyer who filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit
Court on behalf of Dr. Lawrence Lavine, said the doctors had
administered the drug in the course of treating the women shortly
before delivery and not as an experiment, that they had done so under
supervision and that informed written consent had been obtained from
every patient treated. ..giving anti-convulsants to pregnant women
with epilepsy just before they go into labor ''has been accepted
medical procedure since 1938.'' He said that, although epilepsy was
not the problem in the Cook County cases, Dr. Lavine and a colleague,
Dr. J. Antonio Aldrete, had found an unusually high number of infants
born lacking sufficient oxygen, as is common when an epileptic seizure
occurs during labor...
...Dr. Lavine and Dr. Aldrete face a hospital disciplinary hearing
July 18 and are being investigated by the Illinois Department of
Professional Regulation.
==========
There is other information on Aldrete beyond the Chicago case, as summarized below.
[In this malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Aldrete a few years ago, the
suit was dismissed by the court]
LONNIE E. WATSON, Plaintiff, v. J. ANTONIO ALDRETE, M.D., M.S., Defendant.
CIVIL ACTION NO. 02-T-137-S
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, SOUTHERN DIVISION
August 23, 2002, Decided
Magistrate judge recommended Defendant's motion for summary judgment
be granted, and action be dismissed.
In this diversity action, plaintiff Lonnie Watson alleges that Dr. J.
Antonio Aldrete, a physician, and his staff were negligent in
rendering care to plaintiff following a surgical procedure. This
action is presently before the court on the motion for summary
judgment filed by defendant on June 24, 2002. Defendant argues that he
is entitled to summary judgment because plaintiff cannot establish
that defendant breached the applicable standard of care. Upon
consideration of the motion, the court concludes that it is due to be
granted...
...
Plaintiff started treatment with defendant--an anesthesiologist with a
board certification in his sub-specialty of pain management--on March
4, 1998. Plaintiff's initial complaint was of pain in the right
temple, neck, back, thigh, and right knee dating back to June of 1987.
In the beginning of plaintiff's treatment, he was supervised during
his treatment and discharge. Plaintiff was not allowed to stand from a
sitting position without assistance. An assistant would push plaintiff
in a wheelchair to the appointment clerk and then to the front door,
where he would stand with assistance and walk to his car. According to
plaintiff, the observation and assistance became "increasing lax" over
his two years of treatment. Between January 20, 2000 and February 17,
2000, plaintiff received treatment from defendant on seven occasions
for plaintiff's cervical, thoracic and lumbar pain. Each treatment
involved similar injections of sodium chloride, marcaine and
depomedrol...
On February 17, 2000, after his injection therapy, plaintiff
experienced a sensory nerve deficit or incapacitation...to the extent
that he was incapable of standing or walking. ..
==========
[Dr. Aldrete served as an expert witness in this case. From what I
understand of the case, it appears that Dr. Aldrete's testimony was
found to be inadmissable....]
LARRY LAWSON INDIVIDUALLY AND AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF CHERYL
JOYCE LAWSON, Plaintiff, v. SMITH AND NEPHEW RICHARDS, INC.,
Defendant.
CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:96-CV-0297-RWS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA, ATLANTA DIVISION
September 30, 1999, Decided
The outcome of this case turns on expert testimony on the disputed
issue of whether the Rogo system injured Mrs. Lawson. Plaintiff
depends on the...testimony of Dr. Antonio Aldrete...
The Court has serious concerns regarding Aldrete's qualifications....
In his report, Aldrete concluded that the Rogo system "worsened
significantly [Mrs. Lawson's] clinical signs and symptoms with
numbness, weakness and pain in the lower extremities, as well as
bladder and bowel dysfunction." (Aldrete Report, at 4). He also linked
Mrs. Lawson's death to "desperate efforts to have relief of the low
back pain that was caused by the failure of the hardware to institute
and maintain a painless solid effective fusion." (Id. at 2).
Aldrete purports to have relied on the differential diagnosis n4
method to reach his conclusions. Although Aldrete testified that it is
important for any diagnosis of hardware-related pain to have a
radiological component, he did not review the results of basic
radiological examinations. He also stated the importance of a review
of pertinent medical records, but failed to review many important
records that shed light on Mrs. Lawson's problems. In failing to do
these two things, Aldrete did not follow his own protocols....
...As the Court has found Aldrete's testimony is based on an
unfaithful application of his methodology, and lacks a reasonable
informed factual predicate, his testimony is unreliable, and
inadmissible.
==========
As you are aware from Dr. Aldrete's website, he currently practices in
Florida. I checked the status of his license at:
http://ww2.doh.state.fl.us/irm00profiling/SEARCHFORM.ASP
and found the following:
-----
J A ALDRETE LICENSE NUMBER: ME15595
Year Began Practicing:1/1/1965
This practitioner currently holds staff privileges at the following
hospital/medical/health institutions:
Institution Name [NOTE from pafalafa-ga -- the ?Institution? field was blank]
City OZARK
State ALABAMA
This practitioner has indicated the following additional state licensure:
COLORADO
ILLINOIS
ALABAMA
TENNESSEE
==========
I then looked at the licensing databases for the other states
mentioned in Dr. Aldrete's Florida license record:
https://www.dpr.state.il.us/licenselookup/namesearch.asp
Illinois -- No listing for Aldrete
[Possibly, his license was revoked in the state, but I saw no
information to confirm this]
-----
http://www.dora.state.co.us/pls/real/ARMS_Individual_Information?p_orig_board=&p_board=51&p_license_number=15215&p_license_prefix=DR
Colorado
ALDRETE , JORGE ANTONIO
Address Birmingham, AL 35243
License Number DR-15215
License First Issued January 11, 1966
Last Renewal Date June 1, 2003
License Expiration Date May 31, 2005
Board or Program Actions No actions on file.
-----
http://www.docboard.org/aL/
Alabama
Licensee Name ALDRETE , JORGE ANTONIO
Status ACTIVE
Location Birmingham, AL
License Number 00009932
License Issue Date 08/20/1981
Expire Date 12/31/2004
Medical School Name NATL SCH PROF STUDIES NATL AUTO UNIV ZARAGOZA
Medical School Location MEXICO CITY
Medical School Dates 2/54-4/60
-----
http://www2.state.tn.us/health/licensure/index.htm
Tennessee -- No listing for Aldrete
==========
By the way, the links to state licensing records for physicians can be
found at a wonderful site called SearchSystems:
http://www.searchsystems.net/
Just click on the state of interest and look for "Licenses -- Physicians".
==========
The information on the court records came from Lexis-Nexis at:
http://www.nexis.com/
==========
The newspaper articles came from a variety of limited access databases
that are carried by many public libraries, and may well be available
to you at your local liibrary if you wanted to see the full articles.
Additionally, you could open an account with Proquest at:
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/archiverunbound/newspaper.html
to search the same newspapers and retrieve articles of interest online.
==========
Once again, I hope this is the information you needed. If anything
here is unclear -- or if you need additional information -- just let
me know.
pafalafa-ga
P.S. One last thing...I concentrated my searching on problem-areas in
Dr. Aldrete's career as your question indicated you wanted. There is
a wealth of additional information on the web about Dr. Aldrete's
contributions to the field of Anesthesiology, but I did not summarize
this here. |
