The state medical board is considering suspending or revoking the license of a local cardiologist who has been investigated for treatment of two patients, including one who died.
In a 10-page complaint, board investigators allege that Dr. Mehrdad Sadeghi committed "gross negligence."
Two physicians who were also asked by Sharp hospital executives to review more than 60 of Sadeghi's cases since 2006 cited what they said were numerous failures to meet accepted standards of care.
The doctors said Sadeghi made unnecessary efforts and failed to ask for help from other physicians when his efforts went awry.
In the case of the patient who died, board investigators said Sadeghi performed an 18-hour angioplasty on Robin Zinola in an attempt to clear a blockage that was halting the flow of blood to the 81-year-old woman's leg. She died a few days later.
That procedure normally takes only a few hours.
Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center and Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista said Friday that Dr. Sadeghi is barred from performing heart procedures at their facilities.
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Sadeghi's attorney, Erin Muellenberg, said Zinola had told Sadeghi she didn't want to live if he couldn't save her leg from amputation.
The doctor, however, showed documents of support from colleagues and patients, including the family of the patient who died.
Her children defended his treatment in a letter to Sharp hospital executives saying that they would recommend him to others "despite our mother's outcome."
The doctor says criticism is a result from his willingness to take on difficult medical cases.
"Someone with my education and training doesn't all of a sudden become incompetent," Sadeghi told The San Diego Union Tribune.
Before he lost his hospital privileges, Sadeghi was medical director of the cardiac catheterization lab at Sharp Chula Vista.
The board could take months to decide Sadeghi's case.
