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Local Surgeon Accused in Several Malpractice Cases
Posted: Aug 2, 2011 8:14 PM by Steven Romo - sromo@kristv.com
Updated: Aug 3, 2011 2:51 PM
CORPUS CHRISTI - A local brain surgeon went on trial Tueday for allegedly botching a procedure that left a patient severely impaired.
Doctor Stefan Konasiewicz reportedly ran into several legal problems in Minnesota before making his way to Corpus Christi.
Konasiewicz was sanctioned by Minnesota's medical board for unethical and unprofessional conduct before he came to Texas in 2007, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
He also reportedly had multiple malpractice suits, some involving patient deaths, before coming to Texas.
Konasiewicz works at the South Texas Brain and Spine Center with several other doctors.
We stopped by trying to get some comment from either the doctor himself or a partner in his practice about the ongoing charges being made against him.
"I just spoke to my office manager. There's nobody here you can speak to. If you want to leave your card," said an employee of the center. "There aren't any other doctors or partners or anyone?," asked Romo. "No," the employee responded.
No one called us from the center. We do have information on five cases settled in Minnesota involving the Dr. Konasiewicz. Two of them accused the doctor of being responsible for patient deaths, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
Starting Tuesday he faces a new suit in Minnesota for allegedly botching a brain biopsy leaving a patient severely brain damaged.
The Texas Medical Board says they don't have anything on record showing investigations or malpractice allegations against Konasiewicz.
Representatives with that agency say the doctor is free and clear to operate in Texas. In fact, he has privileges at Driscoll Children's Hospital, Doctor's Regional, Spohn Memorial and Spohn Shoreline.
The Texas Medical Board website does say Konasiewicz reported to it that he was ordered in Minnesota to be supervised by a mentoring doctor.
But, representatives told us by phone that he is not required to be supervised in Texas.
They also say the board and doctors in the state are able to make agreements to keep some malpractice cases off of public record. Though they couldn't confirm if that's why Texas has no records of Konasiewicz's malpractice allegations.
We wanted to know if the doctor and his partners at the South Texas Brain and Spine Center thought local patients deserved to know about these allegations, but we weren't able to get any answers.
"So, do you think it would be fair if I said the South Texas Brain and Spine Center has no comment about the allegations?" asked Romo. "I don't know," the employee answered.
We were told the facilities owner would call us with a comment, but that never happened.
For now, no matter the outcome of the current case, it seems like the doctor will be able to operate on patients here in the Costal Bend.
The Texas Medical Board says after the current lawsuit is completed it might include that information on Konasiewicz's public file.
The board says it still has the discretion to keep the case off of public record if the doctor petitions them to do so.
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