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News Release — June 1, 2007
MEDICAL BOARD OF CALIFORNIA
June 1, 2007
Medical licenses of two Southern California physicians suspended
SACRAMENTO—On May 29, 2007 the Attorney General's Office appeared in Orange County Superior Court on behalf of the Medical Board of California in the criminal actions against Cerritos physician Michael Cheeluen Chan, M.D. and Seal Beach physician William Wilson Hampton, Jr., M.D. and obtained stipulations to suspend their medical licenses as a condition of bail. Adopting the stipulation, the court ordered that Drs. Hampton and Chan remain suspended as a condition of bail until August 31, 2007 or until a hearing on the board's motion under Penal Code section 23, whichever comes first.
Penal Code section 23 authorizes a licensing agency to make an appearance in a criminal proceeding and recommend that the court place restrictions on the defendant's license if the crime charged is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of the licensee. Defendants Chan and Hampton have been charged with insurance fraud arising out of their medical practices. Medical Board Executive Director Dave Thornton stated, "The mission of the Medical Board is to protect healthcare consumers. We work diligently to achieve our mission by vigorously enforcing the Medical Practice Act and taking actions to protect the public."
Chan, an obstetrician-gynecologist and Hampton, a general surgeon were arrested on May 16, 2007 in one of the largest medical fraud prosecutions in the nation. They are accused of violating Penal Code sections 182(a)(1) , 549, 550 (conspiracy to commit a crime, false and fraudulent claim, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud), felonies and Insurance Code section 750(a) (capping), also a felony.
According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, the two physicians are accused of being part of the Unity Outpatient Surgery Center scheme which is alleged to have fraudulently billing over $30 million to medical insurance companies. The two are accused of performing medical procedures on healthy people with the knowledge that the patients were being recruited by cappers. Allegedly, many of the surgeries performed were performed on weekends and often on members of the same household on the same day.
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The mission of the Medical Board is to protect healthcare consumers through the proper licensing and regulation of physicians and surgeons and certain allied healthcare professions and through the vigorous, objective enforcement of the Medical Practice Act.
If you have a question or complaint about the healthcare you are receiving, the board encourages you to visit its Web site at www.mbc.ca.gov or for questions call the Consumer Information Line at (916) 263-2382, or with complaints call (800) 633-2322.
For up-to-date information on board activities, please join our "Subscribers' List" at www.mbc.ca.gov/subscribers.htm.
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