Here are summaries of several doctor-discipline cases decided recently by the Texas Medical Board. The few board records that are public do not identify the victims and, except in the case of deaths, often do not say whether patients suffered any consequences. Nor do they say how the cases came to light. The doctors agreed to the discipline, generally saying that they wanted to avoid "the expense and inconvenience of litigation," and generally not admitting or denying the board's findings.

Case studies: Texas Medical Board decisions

Here are summaries of several doctor-discipline cases decided recently by the Texas Medical Board. The few board records that are public do not identify the victims and, except in the case of deaths, often do not say whether patients suffered any consequences. Nor do they say how the cases came to light. The doctors agreed to the discipline, generally saying that they wanted to avoid "the expense and inconvenience of litigation," and generally not admitting or denying the board's findings.

Deaths

Doctor: Trevelyn Olive

Medical board finding: She misdiagnosed a woman in 2008 as suffering from an ectopic pregnancy, a condition in which the fetus starts to develop outside the womb and cannot survive. Olive prescribed a drug to end the pregnancy. The patient turned out to have had a viable embryo. It died.

Discipline: 30 hours of continuing medical education

Doctor status: She works at Matlock Ob/Gyn in Arlington.

Doctor says: Olive did not respond to a request for comment.

Employer says: Fellow partners at Matlock did not respond to a request for comment.

Doctor: John B. Mullen

Medical board finding: In 2007, he was too drunk to intubate a patient in respiratory distress at the Titus Regional Medical Center emergency room in Mount Pleasant, about 115 miles east of Dallas. The patient died. (The Dallas Morning News independently identified the woman as Mount Pleasant resident Helen Fay Walker, 83. She had suffered from severe lung disease for years and was "very near death" when admitted to the hospital, said her daughter, Deborah Loveless. "I don't think there was anything anybody could have done," she added.)

Discipline: Mullen must stay sober, submit to urine testing, attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and get medical and mental-health care.

Doctor status: He still works at Titus, although the hospital's online directory of doctors no longer lists him.

Doctor says: He did not respond to a request for comment.

Employer says: A Titus spokesman issued a written statement saying that Mullen has proper medical credentials. "Any additional inquires regarding actions or allegations by the Texas Medical Board should be directed to that governing body," the statement said.

Doctor: Richard Bang

Medical board finding: He overprescribed medication to a known drug abuser, who died of an overdose. The board does not say when or where these events occurred.

Discipline: Bang must have another physician monitor his work for three years. Also, he must complete 20 hours of continuing medical education, take a course on prescribing and pay a $5,000 fine.

Doctor status: He works at Sandknop Family Practice in Rockwall.

Doctor says: Bang and his lawyer did not respond to interview requests. In agreeing to the disciplinary order, the doctor denied board findings and said he agreed to settle to avoid the "expense and inconvenience of litigation."

Employer says: Les Sandknop did not respond to an interview request.

Doctor: Margo Restrepo

Medical board finding: In 2007, she admitted a suicidal newlywed to the St. Joseph Medical Center emergency room in Houston. The patient's husband had killed himself the morning after their wedding. Hours after going to the hospital, the patient said she no longer felt suicidal and asked to leave. Restrepo urged her by phone not to go but never evaluated her in person. The woman killed herself the next day.

Discipline: Restrepo must get 24 hours of continuing medical education and pay a $5,000 fine.

Doctor status: She has a private psychiatric practice in Houston.

Doctor says: She declined to comment.

Employers say: St. Joseph now requires in-person evaluations before discharging psychiatric patients, according to the discipline order. Hospital officials did not respond to an interview request.

Doctor: Volker Gressler

Medical board finding: In 2003, one of his nurses gave a chemotherapy overdose to a cancer patient, who died about a week later.

Discipline: Gressler must have another physician monitor his work for three years, get 10 hours of continuing medical education and ensure that all of his patients see "a physician, nurse or midlevel practitioner certified in chemotherapy administration." In agreeing to this order, the board made no mention of an allegation that a chemotherapy overdose seriously harmed another patient. That overdose occurred as the patient "was being supervised by a clinic receptionist," according to a 2006 board filing. "At the same time, two registered nurses were meeting with [Gressler] to discuss patient safety concerns."

Doctor status: Gressler still runs Hematology Oncology Physician Experts, or HOPE, a cancer treatment clinic in Richardson. A Dallas County civil jury found him partially responsible for the patient's death. Later, Gressler sued his insurer and lawyers over the defense they provided. That case was settled confidentially.

Doctor says: "Dr. Gressler had good policies in place," said one of his lawyers, Diane Shaw. She said that in the case of the patient who died, the doctor had properly delegated authority to a nurse and became a "scapegoat" for her error. The board dropped the other case because the patient was not Dr. Gressler's, she said.

Other patient-care issues

Doctor: Matthew J. Wills

Medical board finding: He performed four wrong-site neurosurgeries between 1999 and 2006 at Covenant Health System in Lubbock. The fourth occurred after he took a personal phone call during surgery.

Discipline: 10 hours of continuing medical education

Doctor status: Wills now works as a neurosurgeon at Cotton-O'Neil Clinic in Topeka, Kan.

Doctor says: He declined to comment.

Employers say: Covenant officials did not respond to an interview request. According to the discipline order, they developed "corrective action plans" after the third wrong-site operation, in 2002, and the fourth, in 2006. Cotton-O'Neil officials said they knew of Wills' past when they hired him about two years ago and have had no problems with him. Kent Palmberg, chief medical officer for the clinic's parent organization, described some of the surgeon's Texas errors as "trivial." No patients were harmed, he said.

Doctor: Muhammad Akram Khan

Medical board finding: In 2003, he performed invasive cardiac procedures on approximately 29 patients with little or no medical justification.

Discipline: Khan must have another physician monitor his work for one year, get a written consultation from an expert before performing cardiac procedures and take 30 hours of continuing medical education.

Doctor status: He runs Cardiac Center of Texas, North Dallas Research Associates and the Center for Preventive Medicine in McKinney. Their Web sites rarely refer to him by his first name, despite a board rule requiring doctors "to professionally use the name under which they are licensed." The cardiac center's site also describes him a member of "the Texas Medical Board Expert Panel." Board spokeswoman Jill Wiggins said Khan last served on a panel in 2007 and now cannot because of the discipline. "It is against our policy for physician expert panelists to advertise that they are panelists," she added.

Doctor says: Khan said he did nothing wrong in treating patients and harmed no one. Radiologists at one hospital complained about him, he said, because they "felt I was competing with them." He said the board sided with the radiologists after reviewing limited hospital records and showing no interest in additional documentation from him. Khan vowed to correct the material on his Web sites.

Criminal convictions

Doctor: Jennifer Y. Berry

Medical board finding: A federal court in Mississippi convicted her last year of Medicare fraud. She was sentenced to six months of home confinement and five years of probation; she also must pay more than $400,000 in restitution. (Court records say she co-owned a clinic that billed the government for work she did not do. The clinic also used untrained employees to perform therapy that endangered patients.)

Discipline: The board reprimanded her and put her on 10 years' probation. It also ordered her to get 20 hours of continuing medical education, pass the Texas Medical Jurisprudence Examination and retain a professional billing service.

Doctor status: The last practice address she gave the board was for Matagorda General Hospital, in the southeast Texas town of Bay City.

Doctor says: She could not be located for comment. One of her lawyers, Tony Cobos, did not respond to interview requests.

Employer says: Matagorda General said she no longer works there.

Doctor: Thu Anh Hoang

Medical board finding: While working in 2002 for an online business that sold controlled substances, she approved prescriptions for patients without examining them. A federal court in Georgia convicted her in 2008 of misbranding drugs and sentenced her to three years' probation. (Court records say she approved about 16,500 prescriptions as part of a $75 million conspiracy.)

Discipline: She must pass the Texas Medical Jurisprudence Examination and get 22 hours of continuing medical education.

Doctor status: She works for 1960 Family Practice in Houston under the name Annie Hoang, although a board rule requires doctors "to professionally use the name under which they are licensed." She was living in Plano when sentenced and has worked in recent years at clinics in Mesquite, Lewisville and Flower Mound, according to addresses she gave the medical board.

Doctor says: She declined to comment.

Employer says: 1960 Family Practice officials did not respond to an interview request.

Child abuse

Doctor: William Olmsted

Medical board finding: The child psychiatrist pleaded no contest in January to indecency after a neighbor said he fondled her when she was 10. A Dallas County judge sentenced him to six years of deferred-adjudication probation.

Discipline: The board put him on 10 years of probation and ordered him to work in a practice with at least one other doctor, treat men only, undergo psychiatric evaluation, take a "professional boundaries course" and pay a $5,000 fine.

Doctor status: He divulged no practice address to the board.

Doctor says: He could not be located for comment. Tim Weitz, one of his former attorneys, declined to comment.

Doctor: Jeffrey Klem

Medical board finding: The cardiologist pleaded guilty twice in recent years to injuring a child -- in 2007 in Beaumont and in 2009 in Houston. The first plea came in exchange for Jefferson County prosecutors' dropping sex-abuse charges. He served six months in jail and is on deferred-adjudication probation.

Discipline: The board put him on 15 years of probation and ordered him to have no contact with patients younger than 21. He also must have a chaperone when treating older patients, work in a practice with at least one other doctor, get psychiatric care, take a "professional boundaries course" and pay a $5,000 fine.

Doctor status: The phone number associated with the last practice address he gave the board has been disconnected.

Doctor says: He could not be located for comment. Courtney Newton, one of his attorneys, did not respond to an interview request.

Affairs with patients

Doctor: Barry Fenton

Medical board findings: He had a "romantic relationship" in 2007-2008 with one of his psychiatric patients.

Discipline: The board reprimanded him and fined him $5,000. It also ordered him to take a "professional boundaries course," which he recently completed. That freed him from a requirement that he have a chaperone when treating female patients.

Doctor status: He still runs Live Oak Counseling Center in Dallas.

Doctor says: He declined to comment.

Doctor: Barlow Smith

Medical board findings: Beginning in late 2007, he had "repeated sexual contact" with a psychiatric patient "who had a history of being sexually abused" and recently had quit seeing him for therapy. Smith urged her to keep the affair secret. He disclosed it to his fiancee, "who called the patient and insulted her."

Discipline: The board reprimanded him, fined him $3,000 and ordered him to take a "professional boundaries course."

Doctor status: Smith still runs his practice in the Central Texas town of Marble Falls. He is also a lawyer and has his law office at the same address. The State Bar of Texas has not disciplined him publicly.

Doctor says: He did not respond to interview requests. The Austin TV station KXAN recently quoted him as saying he "would have been dead professionally" if the woman had been a current patient.