Doc Accused of Faking Cancer Dx; Out-of-Hospital C-Sections; Forced Sterilizations?

Welcome to the latest edition of Investigative Roundup, highlighting some of the best investigative reporting on healthcare each week.

Doc Accused of Faking Cancer Diagnosis for Money

A physician in Canada allegedly lied about a cancer diagnosis and conned a fellow doctor into loaning her tens of thousands of dollars that she’s never repaid, according to an investigation by the CBC.

Meaghan Labine, MD, PhD, said she loaned more than $160,000 to Monica Kehar, MD, who said she had breast cancer but ultimately did not, the outlet reported.

Kehar first asked for $500, but over 8 months, the tally grew far higher: “It just seemed like no matter how much I lent, it was never enough,” Labine told the CBC.

The two met while doing residency in family medicine. They were at different institutions but both were elected to positions at the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Labine caught onto the scheme after Kehar sent her an email to show she had a job offer with an established doctor, but when Labine asked that doctor about Kehar, that doctor had never heard of her, CBC reported.

Labine won a judgment against Kehar in Ontario Superior Court but still hasn’t been paid, according to the article, so she filed a lawsuit against Kehar to try to get her money back.

Kehar reportedly received money from others as well. The University of Manitoba investigated her for altering emails and faking a serious illness to get colleagues to loan her money, and ended up expelling her, CBC reported. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba did its own investigation and censured her, the article stated.

CBC determined Kehar moved to British Columbia and started a clinic in Vancouver focused on electrical muscle stimulation, called Prestige Body Lab, which has since closed.

C-Sections Outside of Hospitals

Florida has become the first state to allow doctors to perform cesarean sections outside of hospitals, according to KFF Health News.

In March, a law was enacted allowing for “advanced birth centers” to treat women deemed to be at low risk of complications. The physicians group Women’s Care Enterprises — owned by private equity firm BC Partners — lobbied for the change, according to KFF.

Most physician and healthcare trade groups in Florida — including the Florida chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Florida Hospital Association — disagree with the new law. They said it would undermine patient safety and would not help with the maternal mortality crisis that plagues the country. Florida alone has had 17 hospitals close their maternity units since 2019, KFF reported.

“What this looks like is a poor substitute for quality obstetrical care effectively being billed as something that gives people more choices,” Alice Abernathy, MD, an ob/gyn at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, told KFF. “This feels like a bad band-aid on a chronic issue that will make outcomes worse rather than better.”

Forced Sterilizations for Sickle Cell Patients?

Doctors have long discouraged patients with sickle cell disease from having children, often steering them toward sterilization they don’t necessarily want, according to an investigative series from STAT News.

Whitney Carter, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said her ob/gyn suggested having tubal ligation during the c-section that would deliver her third child the following month.

“It’s kind of like I’m giving you a choice but I’m not giving you a choice,” Carter described the encounter to STAT. “And I think he actually did say, ‘You have a choice.’ But the room — I read the room and it was like, ‘If you want to sign this paper, you can. But if you don’t, just know there are risks that come with you not signing the paper.'”

STAT conducted interviews with more than 50 people with sickle cell disease, and seven of them described being sterilized with questionable consent.

While ob/gyns may think they are keeping mothers safe — one study, for instance, found maternal mortality among sickle cell patients is 10 times higher than for Black people without the condition — STAT reported that some hospitals have paired sickle cell specialists with high-risk pregnancy experts to improve outcomes for these patients. There’s also the possibility of offering other long-term contraceptive methods that work as well but are less permanent than tubal ligation or even hysterectomy, STAT reported.

“I just felt like, I guess this is for the best. But it wasn’t the best for me,” Carter said of signing her consent form for tubal ligation. “I guess it was the best for them, because they didn’t have to deal with another sickle cell patient coming into their office saying they’re pregnant.”

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