BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Osteopathic Medical Board of California recently held a meeting to address some changes that are coming to the board that will affect all medical practitioners in the State of California.
In 2021, 23ABC spoke with Tracy Dominguez regarding the wrongful death of her daughter and grandson in the care of Dr. Park, an obstetrician at Mercy Hospital who was on-call when Dominguez' daughter Demi was admitted for swelling and high blood pressure during pregnancy.
"It's been a long trial for them. They're denying babies' rights. They're not following their own protocol that they should be following to protect patients and for babies to have access for investigation. Every death should have an investigation," said Dominguez.
The OMBC meeting, held on Thursday, January 19, 2023, touched on administrative changes, such as creating a new online consumer complaint form, which will allow the board to track criticism much more easily, according to OMBC Executive Director Erika Calderon.
"So, the process again is we obtain the release, and then we contact the physician for a treatment summary, and we collect certified records," explained Calderon.
This struck a lot of controversy among the public from Dominguez and other families who say they put in their claims more than a year ago but were not heard. They feel they have been wronged by the board.
"This board is violating the Business and Professional Code Chapter 4 Article 5 Section 328, which requires that you investigate all death complaints. Yet you have continued to deny my grandson the right to an investigation," said Dominguez.
Monique Himes, whose grandson died shortly after his birth, also spoke to plead with the board to reopen his case.
"My grandson only lived for 18 hours. He weighed in at 5 pounds. He died due to maternal negligence. This board will not accept my grandson's death complaint. It has been 1 year and 8 months since we submitted his complaint, and we have absolutely no information as to where it is," Himes said through tears.
Selena Alvarez, who says her 8-year-old daughter Anayeli has suffered immensely due to medical negligence that left her unable to walk and on a feeding tube, pleaded to the board to have her daughter's case reopened.
"Although we were told my complaint will remain open, we received a letter closing my complaint that my daughter did not meet the exceptions to the statute of limitations for minors," said Alvarez.
Following the meeting, both Dominguez and Alvarez continue to feel as though they are not being treated fairly after trying for years to get their cases reopened. Alvarez says she believes the OMBC is on the right track, but there wasn't enough time to voice her concerns.
"I think the meeting went well, besides the timing they gave every individual to speak out. Exactly give us the exact time we can to express exactly what happened," said Alvarez.
As of now, the families say they will continue to fight to raise awareness of medical negligence in hopes of saving other families the suffering they have endured. 23ABC reached out to the Osteopathic Medical Board of California for their comment, but have not heard back from them.
