BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Tehachapi doctor has been placed on four years of probation by the state medical board in a settlement reached after being accused of gross negligence in her treatment of a baby who was later diagnosed with meningitis and found to have permanent brain damage.
During her probation period, which began Dec. 30, Dr. Susan Jane Perry Hall is barred from treating patients under 60 days old, according to the settlement. She also must complete a “clinical competence assessment program,” educational program and medical record-keeping course and will be monitored by a doctor who will submit quarterly reports to the board.
The settlement was reached in August. Hall has been ordered to reimburse the medical board $4,858.75 in investigation and enforcement costs.
Hall said Tuesday she believes it was a fair disposition.
“I don’t have any concerns,” she said.
According to the accusation, Hall failed to obtain and review a 6-day-old baby’s hospital records when the boy was first brought to her on Sept. 29, 2016. She didn’t schedule a follow-up within the standard time frame and failed to obtain a urinalysis in another visit when the baby had discolored urine and signs of tenderness in his abdomen, according to the accusation.
After noting on Oct. 4 the baby had dropped 4 ounces from the day before, Hall told the mother to take him to Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, according to the accusation. Hospital staff diagnosed the boy with sepsis caused by an infection of his urinary tract. He was transferred to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
In L.A., the boy was treated for meningitis and found to have permanent brain damage, according to the accusation.
“The standard of care for a physician treating a premature newborn is to be very critical of minor symptoms as premature infants are more likely to become ill and not show typical symptoms,” the medical board documents said.
The accusation also lists an incident in 2018 in which Hall performed a circumcision on a 6-week-old boy who suffered significant bleeding and was airlifted to Valley Children’s Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
