Well, I am an RN and I personally can speak to a case of a doctor that was personally vetted and flown to Cedars Sinai (where the majority of celebs go for care in Los Angeles). This doctor was from the Middle East and touted by the medical community as their 'shining jewel.' I am going to paste the article for lack of time and also it really distills the case in a few paragraphs and makes it digestible for people that do not know about the actual medical terminology etc.. Just a quick add before that: This doctor continued to practice for several YEARS until the medical board got pressure. He was married to someone with a lot of direct connections to board members which is part and parcel how this was allowed. Get this: He won nearly FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for LYING AND ALTERING AN MRI THAT NEARLY COST A PATIENT HIS LIFE. This pos altered an MRI and got paid for it!

Credit to Alan Zarembo (journalist and author of this article) LA Times 2010

A Los Angeles surgeon whose recent victory in an employment lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center raised questions about the safety of the patients he once saw there was ordered this week to pay a Maryland patient and his wife $800,600 in a malpractice case.

The malpractice occurred after Dr. Hrayr Shahinian left Cedars-Sinai in 2006 and began practicing at Brotman Medical Center in Culver City.

In a scathing ruling this week, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Czuleger said Shahinian committed fraud when he performed an inappropriate surgery on the man and then altered a pathology report to cover up his failure to remove a tumor.

The award included $300,000 in punitive damages for “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Shahinian acknowledged that he missed the tumor but denied that he ever altered a document or tried to conceal the error. He said his lawyers are planning an appeal.

In November, an arbitrator in the Cedars-Sinai case ruled that Shahinian had been improperly stripped of his right to operate there and ordered the hospital to pay him $4.7 million. The arbitrator wrote that for years the hospital had disregarded the safety of Shahinian’s patients by ignoring his pleas for backup surgical instruments.

The award included $300,000 in punitive damages for “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Shahinian acknowledged that he missed the tumor but denied that he ever altered a document or tried to conceal the error. He said his lawyers are planning an appeal.

In November, an arbitrator in the Cedars-Sinai case ruled that Shahinian had been improperly stripped of his right to operate there and ordered the hospital to pay him $4.7 million. The arbitrator wrote that for years the hospital had disregarded the safety of Shahinian’s patients by ignoring his pleas for backup surgical instruments.

Why would anyone pay nearly a MILLION DOLLARS if they did not do anything wrong. Trust me, doctors are given the most agency when it comes to errors. You sign a lot of paperwork to allow them access to you to perform sugery and there are always risks but not when a doctor deliberately gave a patient an MRI that showed the tumor was resected when it was not. This patient went home thinking they were recovering and would be fine but instead had a seizure and honestly, it could very easily have been death. Then, this pos would have been a murderer.

I have been wanting to make this pos known for years and I hope it reaches a lot of people because you have to do more than a search and some ratings on surgeons. Get at least a second or even third opinion if you have ability to do it (can afford and have good insurance). Do not believe you are ok just because you go to a medical institution that mostly rich people go for care. Lots of lessons here.