Doctor fined for lack of care for girl's thumb

The doctor is ordered to pay $3,000 for failing to re-examine and treat the teen's thumb in 1994. She lost part of it.

By WES ALLISON

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

TAMPA -- The Florida Board of Medicine on Saturday reprimanded a Clearwater doctor and fined him $3,000 after his inattention to a 13-year-old patient cost the girl part of her thumb.

The board, which met this weekend in Tampa, found that Dr. Paul A. Dreschnack provided inadequate care by failing to examine the girl when she complained of serious pain two days after he removed a cyst from her thumb back in 1994.

The wound became infected and gangrene set in. A month later, the end of her thumb was amputated.

Under a consent agreement between Dreschnack and attorneys for the state Agency on Health Care Administration, he will pay a $3,000 fine and get a letter of reprimand from the Board of Medicine. His office also will be inspected to make sure he is providing proper followup care. He also was assessed $2,634 in costs, said Bill Parizek, Department of Health spokesman.

According to the AHCA complaint, "A reasonably prudent similar physician under similar conditions and circumstances would have seen (the patient) as soon as she began complaining of pain . . ., removed the dressing and re-evaluated the condition of her thumb," the complaint said.

According to the complaint filed by AHCA, which investigates charges of doctor misconduct, Dreschnack removed a benign cyst from the girl's left thumb in April 1994. She was told to return in a week to have the bandages removed.

But two days later, the girl began complaining of pain and twice went to his office. Rather than examining her, however, Dreschnack advised increasing the pain medication.

Her father finally decided to remove the bandages to relieve some of the pressure and noticed that gangrene had developed. She was treated in a local emergency room, and about a month later, the end of her thumb was amputated.

State records show Dreschnack has had no previous disciplinary action taken against him.

In accordance with Board of Medicine policy, the name of the patient was not released.

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