California physician accused of falsely attributing patient death to COVID-19 vaccination

Scott Schwebke, The Orange County Register on Oct 9, 2024

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LOS ANGELES — A physician accused of falsely claiming that a stroke patient died at the former Fountain Valley Regional Hospital from the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination faces disciplinary action from the Medical Board of California.

Dr. Tam Ky Nguyen, a Garden Grove internal medicine specialist, was charged by the board in September with gross negligence and failure to maintain adequate records for the allegedly erroneous claim and COVID-19-related diagnoses of two other Fountain Valley Regional patients.

Nguyen had previously been stripped of clinical privileges in 2021 after sending concerning coronavirus communications to officials at Fountain Valley Regional, which UCI Health purchased in March from Tenet Healthcare Corp. along with three other Southern California hospitals.

Nguyen, reached by phone Wednesday, Oct. 9, declined to comment and referred questions from the Southern California News Group to his attorney, who did not immediately respond to emails and phone calls.

UCI Health declined to comment on the medical board allegations because they occurred before the acquisition.

“Dr. Tam Ky Nguyen is not and was not an employee of UCI Health,” said spokesperson John Murray. “As a community physician in private practice, Dr. Nguyen does not have privileges to practice or see patients at UCI Health – Fountain Valley.”

Nguyen, licensed by the medical board since 1996, will be permitted to dispute the medical board charges at a hearing that resembles a court trial and is presided over by an administrative law judge.

After the hearing, the judge will write a proposed decision that will be sent to a medical board panel for consideration. Panel members are responsible for making a final decision on disciplinary matters and can either adopt, modify or reject the recommendation.

If the medical board’s investigation results in disciplinary action, Nguyen’s license could be publicly reprimanded, placed on probation, suspended or revoked.

The medical board began investigating Nguyen in September 2021 after receiving a report from Fountain Valley Regional alleging he failed to submit to a psychiatric evaluation and comply with co-admitting requirements.

The investigation included a review of Fountain Valley Regional records and interviews with multiple witnesses who worked with Nguyen.

According to patient records, in July 2021, Nguyen described a 67-year-old woman’s COVID-19 pneumonia diagnosis as a possible adverse reaction to the Pfizer vaccine she received two months earlier, the medical board said.

Nguyen allegedly prescribed the woman the malaria drug Plaquenil, which had its U.S. Food and Drug emergency authorization revoked in June 2020 well before her hospitalization because it showed no benefit in speeding COVID-19 recovery.

Medical records reportedly indicate that an infectious disease consulting physician recommended that the patient stop taking Plaquenil.

In response, Nguyen purportedly documented that he was instead providing Plaquenil for the patient’s rheumatoid arthritis without consulting medical experts and at double the usual maximum dose.

Nguyen also allegedly advised the woman, who was at high risk for COVID-19, that she should avoid the coronavirus booster, representing an “extreme departure” from the standard of care, the medical board said.

In another instance, Nguyen allegedly diagnosed a 58-year-old woman hospitalized after suffering a stroke as having a sudden adverse reaction to the Moderna vaccination, After she died on May 19, 2021, Nguyen listed in the records the cause of death as respiratory and multiple organ failure from the Moderna vaccine without any “evidence or objective information,” constituting gross negligence, said the medical board.

Additionally, Nguyen allegedly stated in medical records that a 66-year-old man admitted to Fountain Valley Regional in July 2021 for pneumonitis, which is a lung inflammation, and who was coughing up blood and experiencing flu-like weakness, suffered from “possible adverse autoimmune reaction to COVID-19 vaccination.”

The records also contain a note from Nguyen advising the patient to avoid further COVID-19 vaccinations, the medical board said.