Schenectady, US – 5th January, 2019: A doctor accused of gross negligence and fraud allegedly lied on his job application while trying to get hospital privileges at Ellis Medicine in 2016.
Denny J. Pacheco, who previously worked in emergency rooms in Poughkeepsie and Elmira, has been charged by the state Office of Professional and Medical Conduct with committing professional misconduct for allegedly discharging five severely-ill patients between 2012 and 2016 who needed immediate care, according to a hearing notice on the charges filed by the state.
Pacheco, who was the subject of disciplinary proceedings by administrators at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, also allegedly lied on his job applications to Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira in 2015 and in his application to Ellis in 2016 because he affirmed he was not the subject of any investigations.
However, it's unclear if Ellis ever hired Pacheco. Philip Schwartz, spokesman for Ellis Medicine, said it could not be immediately determined Sunday if Pacheco ever worked there. Ellis Medicine runs Ellis Hospital in Schenectady as well as Bellevue Woman's Center in Niskayuna.
A call to Pacheco, whose primary residence appears to be in New Paltz, was not returned Sunday.
Hospital officials at Vassar took disciplinary action against Pacheco after investigating three patient cases that happened between 2012 and 2014. In two of those instances, Pacheco sent home a 7-month-old who was suffering from a fever and severe respiratory illness, and a 22-year-old who needed immediate gallbladder surgery, according to the statement of charges.
But Pacheco denied to Arnot that he was under any investigation, and gained employment there in 2015. The doctor came under suspicion again in 2016 after discharging two people at Arnot, one who had meningitis and another who had suffered extensive injuries in a car accident.
In the most egregious case cited in the statement of charges, a 50-year-old Poughkeepsie man sought emergency treatment at Vassar Brothers in 2014 for heart attack symptoms. Despite an irregular EKG reading, Pacheco discharged the man — who stood up from his chair and immediately suffered a fatal heart attack.
Attorney Thomas Davis, who is representing the man's wife in a lawsuit, told the Times Union that two prior medical malpractice claims against Pacheco, including one that was settled in 2011, were not mentioned in the state's charges.
"She is still agonizing about what happened." Davis told the Times Union. "Finding out about the doctor has made it even more painful for her."
According to the statement of charges, Pacheco then lied when applying for "temporary hospital privileges" at Ellis in December 2016, affirming that he was not under investigation at the time.
"He began practicing in 2010, so over the course of six years, there were at least five different incidents," Davis said. "The fact is that he could go from one hospital to another — and either nobody checked or they were given wrong information."
Pacheco began practicing medicine in 2010 in New York state, but he was licensed in Pennsylvania in 2005 as part of his graduate work as a doctor of osteopathy. A doctor of osteopathy is the same legally as an MD, but the kind of training a doctor of osteopathy receives in medical school is slightly different.
Pacheco's license has since expired in Pennsylvania, according to that state's online professional records. But he is still a licensed doctor in Florida. Records online with the Florida Department of Health said while Pacheco is licensed there, he is not currently practicing.
The Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine website lists Pacheco as an adjunct clinic assistant professor of family medicine. That college has campuses in Middletown and Harlem.
Pacheco currently faces charges of gross negligence, incompetence, fraud, and failure to keep records, and could lose his license to practice medicine in New York if the allegations are substantiated.
A November 2018 hearing was scheduled on the case, but there has been no update as to any findings made by the committee on professional conduct. The hearings are private, and it is unclear if Pacheco is currently practicing medicine.
The Elmira medical center, Arnot Ogden, in a statement to WENY News, said it was "not made aware of any allegations related to Dr. Pacheco."
"Nonetheless, we will be following up in accordance with our standard procedures to determine if there has been a deviation from any credentialing policies or standards of care and will take whatever further action is warranted by the facts," the statement said.
Source: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Doctor-accused-of-gross-negligence-tried-to-get-13511306.php