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Kaiser doctor fined and sentenced to 5 years probation for importing date
rape drug for personal use
June 4, 2004 - Kaiser Permanente Hawaii anesthesiologist Peter E.
Fong is still working for Kaiser two years after he was arrested in the
Moanalua Medical Center parking lot for
importing components of GHB. He was sentenced to five years probation and a
$20,000 fine in federal court Tuesday. (For more information see links to newspaper
reports
at the end of this article).
According to the Regulated Industries Complaints Office (RICO), Dr.
Fong's medical license is current,
valid & in good standing. Even though he admitted to the crime,
and a consumer
complaint was filed against his medical license in 2002, no action
has been taken by the Hawaii Medical Examiners Board, and the RICO
complaint is still pending two years later. This is the full
extent of information available to the Hawaii consumer when a
doctor is accused or convicted of a crime.
In a 2002 survey
of state boards’ doctor disciplinary information available on
state medical board websites, Ralph Nader's group, Public Citizen, gave
the Hawaii site an A grade for user-friendliness, and a D for content. The
ratings are based on ease of use for a typical consumer, and how much
information is present. In other
words, it is very easy to find out almost nothing! The RICO office told
us no additional information is available by phone or in
writing, although they did reveal the complaint against Dr. Fong has
been turned over to the legal section for investigation.
In another report, Public Citizen rates Hawaii's
medical board the worst in the nation for serious disciplinary actions.
Constance Cabral, the executive officer of the Hawaii Medical Examiners
Board, told us complaints go
through RICO and the board only sees what RICO passes on to them. She
went on to say the medical board may not ever have the chance to review a case if
RICO closes it. Because the investigation is still pending she couldn't
tell us if Dr. Fong's case has been turned over from RICO, or if it ever
will be.
Kaiser has been liability-minded enough to keep Dr. Fong in an
administrative position, but they aren't required to, and it is unlikely
Kaiser members would ever know their doctor could be a convicted felon
unless they visit this website.
In July 2003, Star Bulletin reporter Sally Apgar wrote that "researching
doctors [in Hawaii] can be hard task." We found it almost
impossible. If Ralph Nader is worried, then so are
we.
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