Florida doctor's shocking excuse for why he 'couldn't hear his patients' SCREAMS during surgery'
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A Florida doctor has been placed on disciplinary action by the state after he was accused by one of his patients of not hearing their 'screams' during a colonoscopy because he wasn't wearing his hearing aids.
Dr. Ishwari Prasad, a Tampa-based gastroenterologist who is hearing-impaired, was placed on probation last week by the state's Board of Medicine allegedly for not wearing his hearing aids when he performed a colonoscopy, causing immeasurable pain to his patients.
Another one of Prasad's patients has detailed an eerily similar experience she said she suffered through back in 2018 in a separate incident.
'I was a little panicky because I couldn't move. And I'm fully aware of what's going on. I can hear everything that's going on around me. And I can actually see the doctor,' Ingrid Rafael told Fox 13 in the wake of the lawsuit.
A nine-page complaint from The Florida Department of Health details disturbing allegations that two patients, who are not Rafael, said took place at the Ambulatory Surgery Center in Tampa on June 2023.
Ingrid Rafael shared a story eerily similar to the one laid out in the lawsuit against Prasad, claiming that she too woke up during a colonoscopy performed by the doctor
The Tampa Ambulatory Surgery Center (pictured) is where two patients went for a routine colonoscopy that allegedly turned into a horrifying experience
In the complaint, one of the patients that was partially sedated, woke up in agonizing pain during the procedure, but Prasad, who at first denied all the claims made in the filing, did not register the patient's cries.
'I just panicked because mostly I couldn't move. And the pain, the pain is what really got to me,' Rafael said of the moment she woke up in her own separate incident.
After rebuking the lawsuit's claims at first, Prasad then told Fox13 he stopped continuing the procedure once he realized the patient, who he said was 'sedated by the anesthesiologist,' was awake before re-sedating them and starting the procedure again.
'I understand that it's not necessarily just the doctor. But you know, he's the one in charge at the end of the day,' Rafael said of Prasad's latest response to the suit.
A stock image of a instruments used by physicians during a colonoscopy procedure
'What really angers me mostly is that he is not necessarily recognizing where he went wrong.'
During the surgery, the surgical team was also allegedly unable to effectively communicate with the doctor as well, the filing claims.
The complaint also alleged that Prasad 'improperly delegated' tasks to a unlicensed surgical technician.
According to the complaint, the surgical tech - with no medical license - was allegedly instructed under Prasad's guidance to perform a part of the procedure 'including inserting the scope, manipulating the scope, manipulating the snare over polyps, and/or removing polyps.'
Following her own procedure, Rafael said she is still shaken and traumatized.
'I feel like I'm going to wake up from every single procedure I have done now, since there's no peace,' she told the outlet.
The doctor, who has never had any previous disciplinary action against him, is no longer allowed to conduct solo procedures until he is cleared by the state-approved supervised doctor, as per The Florida Board of Medicine.
On top of these restrictions, he was given a fine of $7,500 and must hand over $6,301 in case costs, according to USA Today.
Beyond that, he also has to complete a five-hour course on continuing medical education in laws, rules and ethics in the next year.
Prasad did not immediately respond to the DailyMail.com's request for comment.
