A North County doctor accused of botching a home childbirth has surrendered his medical license.
NBC 7 Investigates has learned that Dr. Robert Biter agreed to stop practicing medicine in California, effective at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Documents filed by the Medical Board of California reveal that Biter, acting as his own attorney, waived his right to a hearing and presented no evidence to the Medical Board.
Biter’s license has been suspended for more than a year, after the Medical Board filed a 13-page accusation against him.
That complaint accused Biter, an OB/GYN with offices in Encinitas, of gross negligence, incompetence and other deficiencies in the stillborn death of full-term fetus carried by Amber Lukacs.
According the Medical Board’s order, Biter has now agreed that if he ever asks the Medical Board or any other health care licensing agency to reinstate his license or grant him a new license, “all of the charges and allegations” in that accusation will be considered true and correct and could be used against him in the application process.
The Medical Board documents reveal that Biter signed the “Stipulated Surrender of License and Disciplinary Order” on Oct. 28.
Attorney Robert Vaage, who filed a civil lawsuit against Biter on behalf of the couple whose baby died during that June 2012 home delivery, said he is “not surprised” that Biter surrendered his license without fighting the accusations.
“He didn’t have anywhere to go (tactically),” Vaage said. “He was highly likely to lose his license. It would have been taken from him.”
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Vaage said his clients, Amber and Michael Lukacs, will be very relieved to learn that Biter will no longer provide prenatal care and deliver babies in California.
“He won’t be in a position to theoretically do the same things to other couples that he did to them,” Vaage told NBC 7 Investigates.
Vaage has also learned that Biter had no medical malpractice or liability insurance when he allegedly caused the death of the Lukacs’s unborn baby boy.
He said Biter will likely file bankruptcy, so the Lukacs’ will never recover any damages for their loss.
NBC 7 Investigates tried to reach Biter for comment but could not locate him.
