San Diego

Dr. Philip Chung Pil Paik of Scripps Ranch Faces Discipline

The Medical Board of California has filed an accusation and a petition to revoke probation against Dr. Chung Pil Paik of Scripps Ranch.

There have been two Board decisions on the doctor, first in November of 2006 and the second in December of 2015. The original case continued on through the years because, according to the Medical Board, the doctor “failed to comply” with the conditions of his probation, conditions he had initially agreed to abide by.

The most recent filing, in this case, is dated June 30. No hearing date has been set and the doctor has not filed any response to the latest allegations. NBC 7 Investigates’ Calls to Paik were not returned. As well as calls to the attorney’s who represented him earlier.

The original accusation involves an incident in which Paik offered a patient interested in liposuction a preliminary examination of her abdominal area, according to documents. After she agreed, the documents say he examined her and then performed a “pinch test” on various parts of the patient's body to determine the amount of fat. Then the doctor asked to see and touch the patient’s breasts because of “professional curiosity” about her implants.

During this examination, according to state records, he became aroused and told the patient “I’m so stimulated.” The patient was offended, put her clothes on and walked out of the doctor’s office, according to the medical board documents.

According to the original filing, in this case, Paik “realized that he had crossed ethical boundaries and immediately apologized to the patient.”

At a hearing, court documents explain how an expert explained he did not think the doctor was a sexual addict. Ultimately, the doctor received a 60-day suspension for “sexual exploitation by a physician.” His license could have been suspended or revoked but instead, in July 2006 he agreed to be placed on probation for seven years, promised to enroll in professional boundaries program as well as other probation terms, including 100 hours of community service.

Four months later Paik wrote the medical board to say he was leaving California to serve as a medical missionary, “full time [for the] rest of my life.”

The Medical Board of California dropped the ball on this case,” Julianne Fellmeth, staff counsel for the Center for Public Interest law at USD, said. She has been monitoring the state’s physician discipline system for three decades.

“MBC (Medical Board of California) knew (or should have known) within 60 days of November 2006 whether he signed up for the professional boundaries course, and certainly they should have known within six months of November 2006, which is when he was supposed to have completed that course,” she said. “Yet they did not even file an accusation based on his failure to enroll in and complete that course until November 2014.”

In that 2014 filing, the Medical Board mailed the doctor a warning stating he was suspended from the practice of medicine “until certain conditions of probation had been met” including the Professional Boundaries Program he agreed to participate in years earlier. The board document also described sending a series of letters from 2007-2013 to the doctor repeatedly reminding him he had to tell the board if he was going to live and practice medicine in California.

This same filing reveals Paik was discovered to be practicing medicine again in Los Angeles with another doctor identified only as “Dr.Y.H., M.D.” His punishment was a public reprimand for unauthorized practice of

In December 2015 the doctor was told by the board to complete the training programs he had promised to finish and comply with existing board decisions to take education courses and continue psychotherapy treatment.

“At a minimum, when he did not enroll in or complete the professional boundaries class within 6 months of the December 2015 decision, they should have issued him a cease practice order,” Fellmeth said. “They did not and this guy is able to practice medicine.”

NBC 7 Investigates is reporting on medical professionals accused by the public and the California Medical Board of wrongdoing in order to bring information to the public and increase transparency of medical practices in the San Diego region. Currently, this information is reported by the Medical Board on its website.

Medical professionals are not required to disclose this information to their patients.

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