Doctor faces new complaints
A Coeur d’Alene doctor who abruptly closed his practice last fall could lose his medical license after more than 20 new complaints of actions ranging from improper prescriptions and fraudulent insurance billings to sexual misconduct, documents showed.
Dr. Tarek L. Haw did not appear at a February hearing called by Idaho Board of Medicine officials to consider whether his already restricted license should be revoked, suspended or further curtailed because of new allegations. A hearings officer is expected to rule on the matter by the end of March, according to Nancy Kerr, the medical board’s executive director.
Alleged victims’ identities were withheld from newly released public documents. The actions allegedly occurred during the nearly two years Haw practiced medicine in Coeur d’Alene.
Clients claimed that Haw prescribed excessive and unnecessary doses of hormones, vitamins and medications. One man was repeatedly injected with testosterone, even though his levels of the steroid hormone were greatly elevated, a complaint charged.
Other patients alleged that Haw improperly charged them for services covered by insurance or that he failed to submit insurance billings at all. One complaint charges that Haw put ointment on a burn on the nose of an employee’s child who stopped by to visit – then charged an insurance company $260 for the treatment.
At least three women complained that Haw’s behavior included improper sexual contact. One patient said he performed multiple, unnecessary breast and pelvic exams. Another alleged that he conducted “rough” pelvic exams. A third said Haw performed a vaginal exam with his bare hands, claiming he was allergic to gloves.
Ten of the new complaints allege that the sudden closure of Haw’s office in October 2005 constituted abandonment of patients, who were left with no access to medical records. A final count alleges that Haw violated state medical codes by leaving reams of patient records in the closets of a house he occupied in Boise.
Attorneys and officials for the medical board aren’t sure of Haw’s whereabouts. No one answered a phone listed for his Boise practice.
“We’re assuming that he might have gone back to Egypt,” said Mary Leonard, associate director for the board.
Haw graduated from a Cairo medical school in 1968, according to a self-reported record filed with the IDACare online information system. His career in Idaho included stints at both ends of the state and nearly two decades of legal wrangling over his practice of using estrogen injections to treat women with hormone deficiencies.
Haw’s medical license was restricted in 2002 to prevent him from using estrogen injections. It was denied in 2003, records showed, but later reinstated. Haw won an appeal in which a hearings officer concluded his practice simply violated the community standard of care concerning estrogen injections.
Medical board records indicate that Haw holds a current medical license that will expire in June.
At least one former patient said that whether his credentials are removed by board action or expiration, she’d be relieved if Haw never practiced again in Idaho.
“He was a scary individual,” said Cherie Colombo, 61, of Post Falls.
Colombo was not among those who filed the most recent complaints. But she said she stopped paying for treatment by Haw after local pharmacists expressed concern over unusual prescriptions for stimulants and depressants. She said she later paid the outstanding debt to avoid the expense and hassle of court action.