State tries to revoke medical license of doctor whose patients died of drug overdoses
State medical authorities have moved to revoke the license of a Rowland Heights physician, accusing her of prescribing unsafe amounts of powerful narcotics to several patients based on cursory and insufficient office visits.
The Osteopathic Medical Board of California, in an accusation made public Friday, said Lisa Tseng was grossly negligent in her care of six patients, as well as an undercover agent who posed as a patient amid an investigation of her practice last year.
Tseng, the board said in the 55-page accusation, also failed to properly respond to signs of serious problems reported by her patients, such as chest pains. Instead, the board said, Tseng answered patient complaints with prescriptions for large amounts of addictive pain relievers, including oxycodone and hydrocodone.
A Times investigation last year found that some patients who received prescriptions for narcotics from Tseng died of overdoses of those same types of drugs. Most of those patients were men in their 20s who struggled with addiction.
In an August interview with The Times, Tseng said she had done nothing wrong.
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--Lisa Girion
Photo: Lisa Tseng, 40, said patients who died didn't follow dosing instructions. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times