Disciplinary Analysis the Infraction Committed

Disciplinary Analysis The infraction committed by Jason Berstein in the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline case No. C04-76 was quite egregious and two-fold. On the one hand, the M.D. "failed to treat a postoperative hemorrhage in an appropriate and timely manner" (Nolan, 2004). Perhaps even more significantly, the doctor engaged in extremely unethical behavior by attempting to conceal his mistake in a dissembling fashion which involved falsifying documents in an attempt to verify his lack of proper treatment for the patient in question.

Therefore, the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline determined that Berstein was "guilty of "unprofessional conduct"…for making willful misrepresentations in treatments and failing to conform to the minimal standards of accepatable practice" (Nolan, 2004). The medical occurrence that resulted in Bernstein's resignation from the Woman and Infants Hospital in 2003 began with the treatment of a female patient (Berstein practiced in obstetrics and gynecology) who complained of stomach pain and copious quantities of bleeding from the uterus -- that was not a part of her period.

Berstein administered a bilateral oophorectomy and a hysterectomy. Under the monitoring of Berstein himself, the patient experienced periods of unstable blood and hemoglobin levels for several hours after this initial procedure, Although Berstein administered a transfusion and undertook a process of delivering intravenous fluids to the patient, he did not detect that the patient was experiencing hemorrhaging due to these procedures and did not treat her accordingly.

The surgeon's falsifying of documents was conducted in an attempt to conceal this fact; he attempted to resign from his position to avoid any sort of disciplinary action by the aforementioned Board or his employer. He was suspended for a year from medical practice in the state of Rhode Island, and ordered to attend classes pertaining to ethics and professionalism before he could be reinstated to practice.

This situation was extremely serious and could have resulted in the possible death of the patient (the documentation does not state that the patient died). Subsequently, Berstein's actions could have also resulted in substantial monetary woes for his employer, which is certainly at risk for a civil lawsuit due to the doctor's negligence. Yet the most deplorable aspect of this case is Berstein's attempts to dissemble the full magnitude of his inept work by falsifying documents that supported his dearth of proper treatment of the patient.

It is also significant to mention the full scope of the punishment issued to Berstein, whose reinstatement "shall be limited to non-surgical specialty or administrative medicine" (Nolan, 2004). This sort of unethical treatment on the part of a medical professional is exceedingly difficult to prevent given the large amounts of autonomy that surgeons have in practicing medicine. However, it is significant to note that the way Berstein's impropriety was detected revolved around the procedural implementation of additional healthcare staff working in conjunction.