Elderly Doctor’s Negligence During Colonoscopies Leads to Disciplinary Action

Botched Colonoscopy Procedures

Dr. Ish­wari Prasad, 84, has been dis­ci­plined by the Flori­da Board of Med­i­cine after two prob­lem­at­ic colonoscopy pro­ce­dures at the Tam­pa Ambu­la­to­ry Surgery Cen­ter in June 2023. 

In one case, he improp­er­ly del­e­gat­ed med­ical tasks to an unli­censed sur­gi­cal tech, while in the oth­er, he began the pro­ce­dure before the patient was ful­ly sedated.

Doctor’s Failure to Hear Patient’s Screams

The com­plaint states that dur­ing the sec­ond pro­ce­dure, the patient began to scream in pain, but Prasad did not stop the pro­ce­dure immediately. 

The rea­son was that Prasad was not wear­ing his hear­ing aids and could not hear the patien­t’s cries for help.

Routine Delegation of Medical Tasks

The inves­ti­ga­tion also revealed that Prasad rou­tine­ly del­e­gat­ed a vari­ety of med­ical tasks, includ­ing scope manip­u­la­tion and polyp removal, to the unli­censed sur­gi­cal tech, “because Dr. Prasad is unable to per­form them himself.”

Disciplinary Measures and Probation

As a result of the inci­dents, Prasad has been placed on pro­ba­tion by the Flori­da Board of Med­i­cine. He has been fined $7,500 and must pay an addi­tion­al $6,301 in case costs. Prasad will also be required to take a five-hour con­tin­u­ing med­ical edu­ca­tion class before August 2025.

Dur­ing his pro­ba­tion­ary peri­od, Prasad will not be allowed to per­form any med­ical pro­ce­dures on his own until he is eval­u­at­ed for com­pe­ten­cy or com­pletes 10 gas­troen­terol­o­gy pro­ce­dures under the super­vi­sion of anoth­er physician.