A premier L.A. County teaching hospital has fired one of its highest-ranking doctors following a two-year investigation that found he regularly gawked at the genitalia of anesthetized patients and never disclosed that he was being paid by a medical device company whose products he used on patients.

Staff members at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, a public hospital run by the county, told investigators that Dr. Louis Kwong sometimes looked under the surgical covers of Black males who were under anesthesia and discussed the “genitals of the day,” according to his discharge notice, which was obtained by The Times.

Kwong also discussed his favorite sex positions and his preference for “auto-erotic asphyxiation,” his colleagues told investigators.

Additionally, investigators found that Kwong, an orthopedic surgeon, received more than $700,000 from the medical device company Zimmer Biomet, which makes joint replacements, without reporting the conflict of interest to the county. He flew twice on the company’s private plane to its Indiana headquarters with medical residents from the hospital, according to the Feb. 27 notice informing him of his firing.

  • Chetzemoka@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Oh it gets so much worse:

    “Much of the misconduct described in the notice had been reported years ago to the county, raising questions about the inaction of hospital leaders. Kwong’s secretary complained more than a decade ago that her boss would remark on the grooming of anesthetized patients’ pubic hair”

    So why did this suddenly become a problem now?

    “Kwong, an orthopedic surgeon, received more than $700,000 from the medical device company Zimmer Biomet, which makes joint replacements, without reporting the conflict of interest to the county. He flew twice on the company’s private plane to its Indiana headquarters with medical residents from the hospital, according to the Feb. 27 notice informing him of his firing.”