Biden NIH pick slapped with four medical malpractice claims: watchdog

President Biden’s nominee to helm the National Institutes of Health was named as a defendant in four medical malpractice cases, including a wrongful death lawsuit, a conservative group has revealed.

Although malpractice claims against doctors are fairly common in the US, the American Accountability Foundation argued the facts of the cases against Dr. Monica Bertagnolli are “alarming” and “raise serious questions about her medical abilities, supervisory skills, and temperament.”

Biden nominated Bertagnolli, the director of the National Cancer Institute, to lead NIH back in May. Her nomination to lead the agency that oversees public funding for health research is still pending before the Senate.

The other malpractice cases against Bertagnolli include an allegedly botched hernia surgery, a purported delay in diagnosing a plaintiff’s colon cancer, and a case involving an alleged belated cancer diagnosis in which she was named as a co-defendant.

According to the American Medical Association, roughly half of physicians age 55 and older have been sued, but AAF stressed that only “7% of medical malpractice cases end in a trial.” One of the claims against Bertagnolli — the botched hernia case — wound up in trial, with the ongoing wrongful death suit poised to follow.

The first case cited by AAF was a New York malpractice claim alleging Bertagnolli improperly conducted a 1996 hernia repair surgery on a patient named Iva Falcon using sutures instead of mesh.

Falcon endured complications and two additional surgeries, but Bertagnolli stood by the decision, arguing both types of repairs were equally valid, per AAF. Expert witnesses disputed Bertagnolli’s assertion and Falcon herself testified that the doctor was quick to realize what she had done.

“She asked me ‘Didn’t I put mesh inside of you?’ And I told her ‘You are the doctor, I was asleep,’” Falcon said on the stand. “She then left the office, came back in, ran her hands through her hair, said ‘How could I have forgotten to put mesh inside of you?’”

A jury ultimately directed Bertagnolli to compensate the plaintiff $450,000.

The ongoing wrongful death case originated in Massachusetts. In that case, the estate of plaintiff Jazmine Sneed, who died at 34 in 2019, alleged incompetence and negligence in diagnosing cancer.

Sneed had received an MRI in late 2015 for lower back pain, but was pronounced negative for a tumor. Some 15 months later, Sneed was diagnosed with cancer and later terminated the relationship with Bertagnolli. The trial in that matter has been slated for May 20, 2025.

A second cancer-related lawsuit was filed in 2000, when plaintiff Helene Levinson sued over an alleged failure to diagnose colon cancer. It was discontinued with prejudice in August 2004, indicating a possible settlement.

In that case, Bertagnolli claimed she was not present on April 11, 1999, when an attending physician saw Levinson and the medical team first interpreted a specialized enema to mean “no evidence of colonic obstruction.”

About six months later, Levinson was readmitted and her cancer was “belatedly diagnosed,” leading to a protracted hospital stay and intensive surgeries, according to AAF. Levinson’s team accused Bertagnolli and her colleagues of a “total lack of communication” regarding the patient’s treatment.

The fourth case dated from 1999 and named Bertagnolli as a co-defendant. The plaintiff, Donna Faulborn, alleged that she endured “severe and permanent injuries” from “negligent performance” during a paravaginal repair surgery.

That suit was also dismissed with prejudice, again indicating a possible settlement.

“In the context of Bertagnolli’s other three malpractice suits, however, this case serves as another example of Bertagnolli being the subject of troubling allegations of carelessness,” AAF argued.

The White House, National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health did not respond to a request for comment.

In his nomination announcement, President Biden commended Bertagnolli as a “world-class physician-scientist whose vision and leadership will ensure NIH continues to be an engine of innovation to improve the health of the American people.”

Bertagnolli is an award-winning surgical oncologist and a breast cancer patient herself.

Dr. Anthony Fauci says he had advocated Bertagnolli for the NIH post, praising her “very solid academic record” and leadership style.

“She’s got the kind of personality that I think is important for the director of NIH,” Fauci told the Washington Post at the time of her nomination. “She’s firm in her principles, but she is a very likable, easy to get along with, people person.”

The NIH’s top post has been held by an acting director — Lawrence Tabak — for over a year. Bertagnolli would be the second woman to lead the NIH if confirmed.