TUCSON (KVOA) - Some former patients of Arizona-based vascular outpatient clinic Modern Vascular claim they received unnecessary and harmful procedures.
Kae Barnes now lives day by day without the use of her left leg after having to get an above-knee amputation after receiving procedures from Modern Vascular’s Glendale and Mesa locations in 2018.
“My life has been altered forever,” Barnes said.
Barnes has filed a lawsuit claiming the procedures they performed damaged her blood vessels and led to her amputation.
“Everywhere they touched was occluded,” Barnes said.
Barnes said she experienced several issues like being awake during the procedures, feeling the pain.
“It was the most painful experience I had endured,” Barnes explained.
She is not the only one making malpractice claims against the company. Three other lawsuits alleging medical malpractice have been filed by or on behalf of patients treated at Modern Vascular clinics in Arizona and New Mexico; one in Arizona was dismissed by the plaintiffs.
In Tucson, Modern Vascular has no vascular surgeons but interventional radiologists. Dr. Scott Berman is a vascular surgeon with its competitor, Pima Heart and Vascular. He said he has seen former Modern Vascular patients for a second opinion who he believes had negative outcomes.
“I have seen patients who have had procedures I believe to be the wrong procedure for that patient,” Dr. Berman said.
When asked about Dr. Berman’s claims, Modern Vascular said it is their competition trying to lure away patients.
Dr. Berman said he has had no shortage of patients for as long as Modern Vascular has been in business and cares more about the patient's wellbeing.
Not all patients are unhappy with the care they receive at Modern Vascular. Pima County resident Thomas Peck believes they saved him from receiving a toe amputation after he said he had a horrible experience at another local vascular clinic.
“I couldn’t be more thankful for the care that I got there,” Peck said. "I think there is good and bad all over."
Modern Vascular’s Chief Medical Officer Doctor Steve Berkowitz said they take every malpractice claim seriously but said you will find such claims against just about any medical practice over time.
“We’ve seen across the country about 64,000 cases,” Dr. Burkowitz said. "We’ve done about 16,000 procedures our overall complication rate over the last year is 1.6 percent, which is a fraction of most surgeries."
The N4T Investigators also spoke to one of Modern Vascular's four vascular surgeons nationwide, Dr. Juan Carlos Correa who flew into Tucson from Kansas City, Mo. for the interview.
“We all have complications no matter how good you say you are,” Dr. Correa said.
Dr. Correa said he is more worried about the diabetes epidemic and what he believes is an ongoing “turf war” between the more traditional mostly hospital-based vascular surgeons against those that practice in the outpatient setting.
“I have seen patients get unnecessary amputations because a surgeon's ego got in the way,” Dr. Correa said.
Dr. Correa said he used to work in the traditional way. However, he was drawn to Modern Vascular by its business model and goal of stopping “unnecessary” amputations. He believes Modern Vascular and the outpatient format help cut costs for the patients when compared to the hospital.
The N4T Investigators spoke to Kymberlie McNicholas a journalist turned patient advocate with the non-profit The Way to My Heart which is meant to help connect patients to the best avenue of care for their condition. McNicholas also believes there’s a “turf war” among traditional vascular surgeons and those treating patients in the newer outpatient format.
“All of these doctors with their different philosophy's different approaches and different techniques are trying to push their beliefs on other doctors,” McNicholas said. "They all will bad-mouth each other and patients are caught in the middle, that’s the biggest problem that I see."
But for Kae Barnes, she said she is a real person who suffered from the negligence of Modern Vascular and is not driven by its competitors. She said she wants accountability.
“Modern vascular they should be shut down they should all be shut down,” Barnes said.
Her lawsuit is still pending. Modern Vascular said it has been greatly limited at fairly defending itself because of HIPAA laws.
If you have a story you’d like us to investigate email us at investigators@kvoa.com or call our tip line at 520-955-4444.
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N4T Investigators: Former patients claim Arizona-based vascular clinic provided 'harmful and unnecessary' procedures - KVOA Tucson News
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