Myrl Jeffcoat myrlj@jps.net

Judge recommends Florida doctor lose medical license over breast-implant death

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20050223-2001-brf-plasticsurgerydeath.html

ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 24, 2005

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – An administrative law judge recommended Wednesday that a doctor lose his medical license because of mistakes involving a patient who died after getting breast implants.

Judge Susan B. Harrell found that Dr. Kurt Dangl gave improper care to Julie Rubenzer, 38, who stopped breathing temporarily during breast enlargement surgery in 2003. She suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen and died a few months later.

Among Dangl's mistakes was giving the woman a larger dose of anesthesia than she should have received, Harrell found. Dangl also asked untrained co-workers to try to find the woman's pulse when she stopped breathing and her heart stopped beating for a time, the judge found.

Lawyers for Dangl, of Sarasota, did not return a phone message seeking comment Wednesday.

Dangl's case now goes before the Board of Medicine, which will decide whether to revoke his license, state Health Department spokeswoman Lindsay Hodges said.