Tampa doctor couldn't hear colonoscopy patient scream because he wasn't wearing hearing aids, board finds

Patient screams during procedure, doctor on probation

A Tampa gastroenterologist is on probation after the Florida Department of Health found he couldn’t hear a colonoscopy patient screaming because he wasn’t wearing hearing aids.

TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa gastroenterologist was placed on probation following a Florida Department of Health investigation into claims that he wasn't wearing his hearing aids and couldn't hear the screams of a patient who woke up during a procedure.

According to the complaint, Dr. Ishwari Prasad was performing colonoscopies on two patients in June 2023 at the Ambulatory Surgery Center in Tampa.

The report claims, during one of the procedures, Prasad "began inserting the colonoscopy scope before [the patient] was fully sedated." It goes on to say the patient began yelling, but the doctor "did not immediately stop the procedure" and that he "failed to realize [the patient] was not fully sedated due to [Prasad's] failure to wear his assistive hearing devices during the procedure."

The surgical team also couldn't communicate with Prasad, according to the report.

"The patient woke up in the middle of this thing and the staff couldn't communicate with the physician," said Dr. Jay Wolfson, Interim Dean at USF College of Public Health. "It's a traumatic experience. All of a sudden, you're awake. You've been anesthetized, you've been sedated, you don't know what's happening. You're feeling pain."

Finally, Prasad is accused of allowing an unlicensed surgical technician to perform part of the procedures, "including inserting the scope, manipulating the scope, manipulating the snare over polyps, and/or removing polyps," the complaint explains.

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During a meeting earlier this month, the Florida Board of Medicine placed Prasad on probation. He can no longer conduct solo procedures until he's cleared by a state-approved supervising doctor.

"In that operating room, the physician has to be able to be in touch with the patient physically or auditorily, and is equally, equally important with the staff. And he couldn't do that," Wolfson said, explaining why these accusations are so serious. "As a physician, you're the king of the road here. And everything that happens there is, is on you. So you've got to be able to listen, to hear as well and to communicate."

Dr. Prasad did not immediately return a call to his private practice office, located off Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Tampa. He did, however, send an email to FOX 13 claiming the complaint was a "false report" and that he contested it with his lawyer.

He has not faced any previous discipline by the Florida Board of Medicine.

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