Suspended central Ohio surgeon fights to regain license

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A central Ohio neurosurgeon is fighting to have his medical license and reputation restored after the state medical board accused him of performing surgeries that were described as “excessive and unjustified” and resulted in death.

The medical board issued its final order last month to uphold a summary suspension against Dr. Jeffrey Hatef, finding that restoring his medical license would present an immediate danger to his patients.

Hatef is fighting the charge and already filed an appeal – and he’s receiving support from a surprising place: from one of the three patients identified in the original, anonymous complaint against the doctor.

That patient said Hatef saved his life and helped him walk again. He was shocked to learn that he was patient one in a three-patient complaint against Hatef.

Hatef said he was shocked, too.

“They came to my house and gave me this order of a summary suspension, and I was just completely blindsided,” he said. “Summary suspension is usually something reserved for doctors who have been charged with a crime or sexual assault.”

Hatef was accused of performing unjustified surgeries, going beyond the standard of care.

“There were two separate allegations for patient one was that the surgery was unindicated, unwarranted,” he said. “For patients two and three, it was that the surgery may have been warranted and/or may have been done properly, but they were too sick for surgery. No one should have done surgery, was the allegation.”

Patients two and three died within days of their surgeries.

The medical board case against Hatef relied on a consultant, a doctor from the Cleveland Clinic, who determined through medical records that patients two and three were too medically fragile, malnourished, and uninformed about the risks of surgery.

Hatef said patient two was in a wheelchair and on her way to paralysis, believing surgery was her last chance.

Patient three’s spinal deformity was so severe that her body was locked at a 90-degree angle and screws from previous surgeries were popping through her skin.

“So curved that the screws on her spine are literally coming through the skin with open sores,” Hatef said. “I mean, it's a horrible condition she's suffering from, and the medical board said she should have never seen the entire, the inside of an operating room.”

Hatef said she was warned of the surgery’s risks.

“Anytime a doctor loses a patient, it's, it's an awful thing to have happen,” he said. “It's, it's never what we wish for or hope for, but she, you know, and I had many conversations with her, and she knew that was a risky surgery, and that any complication like that was a possibility, and she was in such a horrible state with so much suffering that she wanted to take on those risks.”

The medical board said the surgeries were too risky and that Hatef should lose his license.

“It’s nuts what they did to him,” Jerry Borsh, patient one in the complaint, said. “They took away my doctor. It was my choice who I would have as a doctor, and they took him away.”

Just after NBC4i.com published a report on Hatef’s initial suspension in February, Borsh found out by reading online that his doctor was suspended. He investigated further and found out that he was patient one.

“They claimed he lied to me, that he didn’t tell me all the risks and stuff, that the surgery was his idea and he just ramrodded it down there, like I am a piece of meat and I had no say in it,” Borsh said, adding that as of Nov. 3, no one from the Ohio medical board has spoken to him.

After learning Borsh was thriving, the board apparently dropped patient one from the case.

“I think this was a very shoddy investigation,” Hatef said. “I think it's an incredibly unjust punishment, especially given the facts of this situation, where one of the patients was dismissed before we even got to the hearing, because the medical board found out they got it wrong.”

The suspension has harmed Hatef’s career, but he is hoping to regain his ability to practice medicine again.

“Professionally, it's completely ruined my career,” he said. “I've been fired. I've had these accusations. Published in the newspapers, two of which we know now have been dismissed. I haven't practiced medicine in 10 months. Now. I have to take classes and be supervised to try and get back into medicine. I honestly don't know if I'll be able to; my lawyer assures me that people have come back from this, but it's, it's been a disaster.”

Representatives of the Ohio Medical Board said they cannot comment on the case because of pending litigation. In general, a spokesperson said, the board does not take suspensions lightly. By law, the standard for a summary suspension is the "clear and convincing evidence" of wrongdoing. According to the spokesperson, it is common not to speak to patients during an investigation.

Hatef's case now goes on to Franklin County Common Pleas Court.