(WSBT) We trust them to heal us in our time of need, but how much do you really know about your doctor?
License suspensions and malpractice settlements may be in their past, and you may not know about it.
One area doctor has a history of judgments stretching back 25 years.
Urologist Jeffrey Bolduan has offices in Goshen and Warsaw. He also has had multiple malpractice judgments against him, totaling in excess of $670,000. Yet, numerous patients continued to go to Dr. Bolduan for treatment, unaware of his past.
A Whole Host of Problems
“He was my urologist for years, felt comfortable around him, trusted him,” said Albert Allberry, who went to Dr. Bolduan for help with a problem a lot of men don't like to talk about.
“Erectile dysfunction for lack of a better word, which turned out to be something terrible for him and me both,” Allberry said.
Dr. Bolduan prescribed an injection. After taking the injection, Allberry experienced a prolonged erection and called Dr. Bolduan for help.
“If you have an erection for more than four hours, you need to seek medical attention,” said William Cohen, Allberry’s attorney. “In Mr. Allberry's case, he had an erection that lasted for 24 hours. And his doctor did not treat him, that's a breach of fundamental standard of care.”
Allberry told WSBT News a whole host of problems developed because Dr. Bolduan didn’t treat him right away.
“He performed three surgeries on me, and he sent me to Indianapolis, to Methodist Hospital and I had two more surgeries at Methodist Hospital to straighten out what he had done up here," Allberry said.
The surgeries left Allberry in pain.
“You couldn't hardly walk, you couldn't hardly stand up straight,” he said. “It's excruciating pain and it stayed in pain after that, probably two weeks after all of the surgeries.”
Allberry told WSBT News his doctors in Indianapolis advised him that his treatment by Dr. Bolduan was substandard.
“After I found out, I hadn't got the best treatment from him and he had blotched everything up, and ruined my quality of life for the rest of my life, I thought it was time to talk to an attorney,” he said.
Elkhart attorney William Cohen agreed to take on the case.
“It stood out to me as one where the doctor clearly failed to follow acceptable medical practice, he wasn't even close,” Cohen said.
Multiple Malpractice Rulings
It was at that point that Cohen went to the state's medical licensing board to request information on Bolduan's background. Both he and his client were stunned at what they found.
According to a complaint filed by the state’s Attorney General’s office, Bolduan surrendered his license to practice in Michigan in 1982, after he pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud. His license was suspended and then placed under probation in Indiana for two years.
In the next 15 years, three claims of malpractice against Bolduan were successful.
A complaint filed by the attorney general's office to the state's medical licensing board tells the story.
In January 1992, a guide wire became lodged in a patient's kidney during a botched kidney stone removal surgery. The man later received a $30,000 judgment.
In April 1992, Bolduan misplaced a stent, during another botched kidney stone surgery.
In the complaint, the attorney general's office alleged he ended the surgery, left the stent in the wrong place and the next morning, left the country on vacation.
The attorney general's office also alleged the doctor didn't leave any follow-up instructions for the patient.
She later received an $18,000 judgment.
In 1993, a patient was found to have an enlarged prostate. A biopsy was performed, which turned out to be negative.
The attorney general's office alleged Bolduan did not tell the patient to follow up with repeated psa tests and exams, so any cancer could have been treated early.
By the time the patient went to another urologist, it was too late. He died from prostate cancer in 1997.
The man’s family received $550,000 from the state’s patient compensation fund, and $75,000 from Bolduan himself.
Bolduan Receives His Sanctions
The state attorney general's office used those cases and more to argue that Bolduan was professionally incompetent.
Bolduan went before the state medical licensing board in June 2001 — four years after the state's complaint was filed, and six years after the last patient was treated.
According to the minutes from the meeting, the state's expert witness declined to participate. Also, the cases were called stale. Bolduan had already agreed to make changes. His license had already been renewed since the patients had been treated. The board ordered him to attend a communications skills program in Connecticut and placed a letter of reprimand placed in his file.
Three years after that, a state medical review board unanimously found Bolduan committed malpractice in Allberry’s case.
That became the fourth malpractice ruling against Bolduan in nine years.
South Bend attorney Jim Groves has represented patients and doctors in malpractice cases for 30 years.
“It's very rare to have multiple cases that are successful against the doctor,” Groves said. “Primarily, it's probably rare that a competent physician commits malpractice frequently."
What You Can Do
Four years after the series of surgeries, a jury awarded Allberry a $50,000 judgment.
“$26,000 for the surgery and the legal bills and that was it,” he said.
Many other patients don’t want to go through with the process of suing a doctor, because it takes so long.
A Kosciusko County man, who did not want to identified, accused Bolduan of botching surgery to treat bladder cancer.
"Had we not taken the steps to get a second opinion, the urologist at IU said I could have stood a good chance of dying," the man told WSBT News.
He filed a malpractice claim with the state's malpractice board, but later withdrew it.
“You try to recover your losses and move on, and don't dwell on it, because it can eat you up," he said. "We're just not that way.”
Both the man and Allberry say now they know better.
“Forewarned is forearmed," the Kosciusko man said. "My advice to people facing major surgery is get a second opinion.”
“I believe people with the Internet today, should check out their doctors,” Allberry said. “Even though you think you're with a good doctor, you should look at their record.”
Indiana:
License Verification: Click on Medical Licensing Board in drop-down menu.
Malpractice Settlements: Click on the bullet next to Individual, then click Search Claims.
Michigan:
License Verification: Click on Medical Doctor in the drop down menu.
We repeatedly tried to contact Dr. Bolduan for comment. We called him and also visited his office, but we got no response.
There are signs Dr. Bolduan may be under investigation again. The state attorney general's office hired a doctor to review Bolduan's medical records. That contract ended in May of this year.
The state attorney general's office would not comment.
