Osteopathic medical board brings charges against Bakersfield OB-GYN

A Bakersfield obstetrician-gynecologist faces the possibility of losing his license after being formally accused last month of negligence by the Osteopathic Medical Board of California and the state Attorney General's Office.

Dr. Hans Chunghan Yu is accused of failing to follow medical standards of care in the cases of three of his patients, one of whom suffered the death of her unborn child. Another patient complained Yu failed to properly attend to her and her baby, and a third experienced a hysterectomy complication that may have been preventable.

The charges were filed April 18 by the board's executive director, Erika Calderon. They are to be heard by an administrative law judge of the board's Medical Quality Hearing Panel.

Yu, who was awarded his license by the board on Aug. 23, 2006, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

If he is found to have been negligent or incompetent, Yu faces the possibility of having his license revoked or suspended, being placed on probation or publicly reprimanded. He could also be ordered to pay to cover the costs of investigation and enforcement of the case.

In the first case detailed in the accusations, an unidentified, 24-year-old patient filed a complaint with the board three years ago regarding the care she received from Yu in 2019.

According to the filing's summary of an investigation by the board's Division of Health Quality Investigation Unit, the patient had 13 prenatal visits with Yu, who told investigators he requested induction of labor after having explained the procedure's reason, risks, benefits and alternatives.

But the patient later complained Yu "never came to check up" on her or her baby throughout the induction process, according to the board filing. It said the day before the patient delivered her baby, there was no indication Yu attended to her at the hospital despite the mother's worries about the baby's slowing heart rate.

However, the filing said that a day later, Yu was "frequently involved and present" for the patient, whose newborn had sepsis and received five days of intravenous antibiotics.

The accusations before the board allege Yu's "failure to be present" during the patient's care and treatment "demonstrated an extreme departure from the standard of care." It said an obstetrician should be in frequent contact by phone with the labor and delivery nurse during labor induction.

The filing's second case, stemming from a 2021 complaint filed with the board by another unidentified patient of Dr. Yu, accuses him of not doing enough to protect the patient during a peripartum hysterectomy.

The 31-year-old woman gave birth May 17, 2021, after Yu performed a cesarean section, during which she lost 40 ounces of blood. A day later, she underwent a hysterectomy and was placed in intensive care. A day after that, Yu documented the patient was stable, and on May 21, 2021, the patient was discharged from the hospital with plans for a checkup at Yu's office in one week.

But three days after being discharged, the patient complained of pain. Yu reportedly refilled her pain medications, ordered a blood count and told her to go to an emergency room if her symptoms got worse — which they did: She went to an ER May 29 complaining of fever and abdominal pain, and was discharged with antibiotics.

The patient returned to the ER on June 4 with flank pain and a fever of 102. Yu agreed to monitor her in the hospital, and a day later, Yu noted two liters of serous fluid had been drained from the patient. The board filing said Yu expressed concern about bladder injury, as opposed to ureteral injury.

The filing said the patient was found to have suffered a ureteral injury, which Yu told an investigator may have occurred on the patient's left side, "but he was on her 'right side,' so he stated he did not know how it happened."

The patient ended up returning to an ER on July 9 with what was believed to be an infection related to a catheter placed two days prior. She was sent to a different hospital and underwent ureteral reimplantation and received a stent.

Calderon's accusation listed a series of care standards, including documenting that the ligation of uterine arteries is well away from the ureter, that the surgeon "be constantly aware of the potential risk for ureteral injury during the procedure" and that the surgeon do everything possible to recognize injury before leaving the operating room.

The third case in the complaint tells of an unidentified, 34-year-old patient whose pregnancy was complicated by gestational diabetes, chronic hypertension and morbid obesity. Her fetus ended up dying before birth.

Yu told investigators the patient's gestational diabetes was managed with oral medication. He reportedly saw the patient at appropriate intervals and documented telling her about diet changes and blood-sugar monitoring.

But the filing said he did not document monitoring, analysis or interventions regarding control of her gestational diabetes. He also told investigators he was unaware the patient did not take her blood pressure medication the day she was to undergo a cesarean section.

Before the procedure was scheduled, while Yu said he was waiting for the father to arrive at the hospital, an ultrasound confirmed the fetus had died.

According to Calderon's complaint, Yu should have ordered the patient to fast daily and monitor her blood sugar after meals. It said the standard of care is to give formal dietary instruction and counseling and to monitor, evaluate and document the patient's blood sugar at regular intervals.

The standard also calls for making sure the patient's blood pressure was below severe levels, the filing said, by ordering lifestyle changes or oral blood pressure medications. It further stated Yu should have taken various steps following the fetus' death, including ordering blood tests, coagulation studies and a urinalysis, as well as recommending a fetal autopsy.