Medical board upholds Dr. Bishnu Rauth's short-term license suspension

LAS CRUCES - The New Mexico Medical Board last week upheld a short-term suspension of Las Cruces cancer doctor Bishnu Rauth's license, after finding he'd failed to maintain up-to-date medical records and also deviated from standard treatment protocols.

The medical board voted 6-0 on Thursday to uphold a short-term license suspension issued in July against Rauth.

In reaching a conclusion, the board reviewed findings from a seven-hour hearing that took place Aug. 24 in Albuquerque before a hearing officer. Rauth and his attorney attended. The Sun-News obtained a copy of the resulting report, which includes responses from Rauth to some of the allegations.

The medical board has fielded 22 complaints against Rauth since 2003, according to the report. But the most recent investigation began after the board received five complaints from patients or their families in a one-year span starting in late 2015.

More:Las Cruces cancer doctor gets license suspended

Meanwhile, a more-permanent decision on Rauth's license will stem from a second hearing that starts this week, also in Albuquerque before a hearing officer.

Gaps in medical records

In reviewing the cases of five former patients of Rauth's, the medical board concluded that the official medical files maintained by Rauth were "sufficiently inaccurate and/or incomplete, and were not timely provided when requested." The pattern posed a threat to the public because medical records are often relied upon by other medical professionals, in addition to the physician maintaining the documents, in deciding the best course of treatment for patients, according to the report.

Medical board staff, during an investigation, subpoenaed the patients' complete medical records; interviewed patients, family members and other witnesses; and attempted to subpoena "audit logs" from Rauth's electronic medical system, which show when a given medical record was created, changed or deleted. Such logs are required by HIPAA laws to be maintained for six years, the report states.

While Rauth did provide a portion of the handwritten and electronic medical records sought during in the investigation, he didn't provide the audit logs.

"He claimed not to know what they were or how to print them from his electronic medical records system," the report states.

Rauth did invite the medical board investigator to visit his office to obtain the logs herself, but she declined because it's a responsibility of practitioners, according to the report.

Rauth, in responding to questions about one patient's file, testified that he wasn't adept at using computers, and that those type of records were "not necessarily the truth," the report states. Rather, he relied more heavily on his handwritten notes, and, "if the Board has not received the handwritten records they requested, someone has probably skipped out or was not doing their work; that's all."

The investigator found a range of problems with the medical records examined, including missing records, missing information on records and records that were filed months after care or treatment had been given, though standard practice is to file them the same day. In some cases, the medical records appeared to have been created by Rauth's office in response to a request by someone to see them, according to the report.

Not following protocols

In addition, the board confirmed that Rauth's "treatment of patients using protocols that are not generally accepted methods of treating cancer, his failure to properly monitor patients under chemotherapy, and his failure to advise patients of serious side effects, fell below the standard of care recognized in New Mexico," the report states.

The Sun-News in recent weeks has received dozens of letters, emails and phone calls from former patients of Rauth or their family members. A number have been from patients with glowing remarks about him and the care they received. But another contingent has been upset or outraged at their treatment. Several have complained to the Sun-News about not being able to get medical records in a timely fashion or about having been given incorrect diagnoses.

In the case of one patient whose case was reviewed by the medical board — a man identified only as "D.C." —  three pathologists had concluded that masses in his lungs were the result of kidney cancer cells that had spread in his body, according to the report. But Rauth diagnosed the man as having Stage 3 lung cancer, "ignoring the three pathology reports," the medical board's report states.

Rauth saw the man in March of 2016, and he was treated with four cycles of two drugs, Taxol and Karvol, "which is not the standard of care for renal cell carcinoma and is not the standard of care for lung cancer at that stage," the report states. Rauth later changed the treatment to a combination of three drugs, which weren't an "approved regimen" for either lung or renal cell cancer. In addition, the cancer was at Stage 4, not 3.

"He was treating the wrong cancer; he was treating the wrong stage of cancer; and he was using the wrong agents," the report states.

Rauth responded, saying he didn't treat the patient for lung cancer because the patient lacked kidney lesions, according to the report. And Rauth didn't believe the pathologist reports were definitive about the diagnosis being kidney cancer. Plus, Rauth said treatment guidelines from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a nonprofit that works to improve cancer treatment, were only guidelines and not the "Ten Commandments."

Rauth's attorney couldn't be reached for comment Monday afternoon. 

Second hearing scheduled

The board's recent vote means Rauth's license remains suspended pending further action from the board, said Amanda Quintana, public information officer and compliance manager for the New Mexico Medical Board.

Two members of the currently eight-member medical board had excused absences from Thursday's meeting and did not vote.

The second hearing involving Rauth's license, also before a hearing officer, is set to start 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 29 at New Mexico Hospital Services Corporation, 7471 Pan American Freeway, NE. It's scheduled to continue at 10 a.m. Monday Oct. 2 and Tuesday, Oct. 3

It will result in a recommendation to the medical board regarding the longer-term status of the license. The medical board will then take a vote in a separate meeting.

Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443, dalba@lcsun-news.com or @AlbaSoular on Twitter.