Las Vegas Urologist faces two consecutive medical malpractice lawsuits

Las Vegas Urologist faces two consecutive medical malpractice lawsuits

Earlier this year, Connie Mulick had filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Michael Kaplan, a Las Vegas Urologist. Soon after that on July 24, 2015, another malpractice case was filed against Kaplan by Arlene Muller in the Clark County District Court.

Both women claim that their husbands died while under the care of Kaplan.

The complaint filed by Muller is accompanied with an affidavit prepared by a California based Urologist, Richard Boxer, who states Kaplan "failed to evaluate Mr. Muller for an extended period of time during which the patient had blood in his urine" and "failed to perform a biopsy on Mr. Muller's bladder when the CT scan report indicated the highly probable presence of cancer." The affidavit further states that since the cancer was blocking the opening of the ureters in to the bladder, Mr.Muller needed tubes to be places in his ureters.

On July 26, 2014, while placing a catheter, Kaplan ruptured Mr. Muller's bladder. This led to an emergency surgery two days later.

Boxer in his affidavit states that "Since Dr. Kaplan failed to diagnose Mr. Muller's bladder cancer, Dr. Kaplan proceeded with surgery on 7/28/14 and opened Mr. Muller's bladder during the repair of the bladder rupture, which, along with the rupture, resulted in the spread of his cancer into his pelvis," He further added that, "Mr. Muller's kidneys later became infected and required surgery to drain the infections," Boxer wrote. "It is my opinion these infections directly and causally contributed to the demise of Mr. Muller. If Mr. Muller had been properly evaluated when the blood existed in his urine, the bladder cancer would have more likely than not been detected earlier.

On the other hand, the complaint filed by Mulick alleges that her husband, Edward had arrived in the emergency room at St. Rose Dominican Hospital’s Siena campus on February 12, 2014, for treatment of a urinary condition and was examined by Kaplan. Her husband remained in critical condition until his death on February 17, 2014. It was ruled by the Clark County Coroner's office that that his death was caused due to the complications of the bladder perforation.

This is not the first time Kaplan is in trouble for his medical practice. According to the medical malpractice insurance company, two settlement payments were reported on the medical board’s website on behalf of Kaplan, one was for $ 1 million and the other for $ 250,000. Both these payments were related to acts or omissions in 2001 and listed the following details: "obstructed ureter and perforated bowel as a result of improper performance of surgeries."

In 2005, Kaplan was found guilty by the board as he failed to use "reasonable care, skill or knowledge" in the treatment of a patient "by performing surgery on the wrong side”. The board concluded that his conduct constituted malpractice and issued a public letter of reprimand.

Also, recently, a federal jury had found Kaplan guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit adulteration in connection with his reuse of rectal needle guides. As per the Prosecutors, Kaplan had ignored warning labels on needle guide packages which prohibited reuse of the disposable guides

After a joint investigation by the FDA and Nevada State Board of Medical Examiner in March 2011, Kaplan’s medical license was suspended briefly. Further, letters were sent to 101 patients of Kaplan advising them to be tested for HIV and Hepatitis B and C.

Mulick and Muller are both represented by attorney from Bowen Law offices in Las Vegas.