Personal Injury Law

San Diego Medical Malpractice Caused by Unlicensed Doctor

By Ross Jurewitz

A Chula Vista woman was sent to jail recently after pleading guilty to committing medical malpractice by performing abortions without a medical license. Bertha Bugarin plead guilty to nine counts of practicing medicine without a license, one felony count of grand theft, and one misdemeanor count of "dispensing dangerous drugs" to her patients at her Chula Vista clinic where she claimed to be a doctor.

The arrest and prosecution of Bugarin occurred after Michael Varga, a Chula Vista Police officer assigned to the department's Special Investigations Unit, interviewed women about abortions they had received at Clinica Medica Para La Mujer de Hoy, a storefront clinic located on Broadway in Chula Vista that catered to low-income, Spanish-speaking women.

Varga's investigation led to identifying Bugarin as the leader of an illegal medical facility and abortion clinic. Bugarin, the investigation found, was a layperson who claimed to be the owner and manager of the Chula Vista cash only clinic, as well as five other similar clinics in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Full post as published by San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog on February 19, 2009 (boomark / email).