Judge Allows SoCal Obstetrician To Keep Practice
ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) ― A judge ruled Thursday that a Southern California obstetrician may continue to practice medicine while regulators seek to revoke his license, saying the doctor didn’t violate a court order that limits the kind of procedures he can perform.
The ruling is a setback for the California Medical Board in its efforts to stop Dr. Andrew Rutland from practicing after a 30-year-old woman under his care died last year, but it’s not the final word. Another proceeding on whether Rutland should permanently lose his license is expected this year.
Administrative Law Judge James Ahler said his January order that limited Rutland’s activities did not extend to chemically induced abortions, as regulators believed it did. He clarified that his order only bars Rutland for doing surgeries and delivering babies.
The judge was reluctant to open a debate on whether chemically induced abortions jeopardized patients.
"Folks, this is not a referendum on abortion," he said.
Kathleen Nicholls, the medical board’s southern area commander, was disappointed by the ruling and called Rutland’s conduct "dangerous."
"How many patients have to die before a doctor is shut down?" she said outside the hearing room. "It’s unfortunate someone else is going to have to die to change this order."
Rutland, 66, first surrendered his license in 2002 in a high-profile case involving the deaths of two infants. In 2007, he convinced the board that he had been rehabilitated and regained his license.
New troubles surfaced after the 30-year-old woman visited Rutland’s San Gabriel clinic last July for a second trimester abortion and was injected with lidocaine. According to court records, she went into respiratory distress and died six days later.
The medical board said that Rutland offered a chemically induced abortion to an undercover investigator who visited his Chula Vista clinic in suburban San Diego this month.
His attorney, Paul Hittelman, said Rutland had problems in the past but that he deserves to continue practicing.
"He’s had such a long history of successes," Hittleman said after the hearing. "I don’t represent people who I don’t think merit my services."
Rutland, who is based in Anaheim, did not appear at the hearing.
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