Miami, Broward, and Palm Beach doctors in prison, on the lam and slinging pills
Of the 10 doctors in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties disciplined by the Florida Board of Medicine or put under emergency suspension since Oct. 1, four are convicted criminals and two are cosmetic surgeons working out-of-office surgery centers.
In alphabetical order:
Anthony Addesa, Jupiter
Anthony Addesa’s license, which he had held since 1991, was revoked after his convictions on misdemeanor battery-domestic violence and witness tampering. The victim in the former, according to the administrative complaint, was his now-ex-wife and it occurred in front of their infant child.
Addesa is now a fugitive from the Florida Department of Corrections and courts in Palm Beach County, and Rhode Island’s Providence County have bench warrants out for him.
READ MORE: Once a Palm Beach cancer doctor. Now, a fugitive who allegedly skated on diner checks
Gladys Alonso, Hialeah
Doctors have to pay annual assessments to the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association. Dr. Gladys Alonso missed making those $250 assessments for five consecutive years. She was fined $1,000, plus $128.05 in Florida Department of Health case costs, and has to take a five-hour continuing medical education course in laws, rules and ethics.
Nidia De Jesus, Miami Lakes
Dr. Nidia De Jesus, now working at a different plastic surgery clinic, is on probation, has to take two continuing medical education classes and was fined $2,500 plus $6,028 case costs after the death of a Brazilian butt lift patient while at what was then ibody Aesthetics.
READ MORE: A Miami plastic surgeon’s punishment after a Brazilian butt lift patient died
Neri Franzon, Fort Lauderdale
A patient came to Dr. Neri Franzon in September 2015 with a bulging back disc, according to an administrative complaint. The complaint jumps forward to Oct. 26, 2017, through March 24, 2018, during which Franzon prescribed the pain drug oxycodone “on a regular basis.”
Oxycodone is a Schedule II drug “with a high potential for abuse.” Yet, the complaint said, Franzon didn’t do a complete physical exam, medical history or come up with a treatment plan for the patient. Or, at least, didn’t document doing it.
Franzon “prescribed oxycodone without justification or without documenting justification for the prescription,” the complaint said. “[Franzon’s] medical records were incomplete and, at times, illegible.”
This cost Franzon, after a settlement agreement, a $5,000 fine; $2,983 in Florida Department of Health case costs; a letter of concern against her license; the time in completing a five-hour continuing medical education course in drug prescribing, another five-hour course in risk management and a three-hour CME course in record-keeping.
Enrique Gomez, South Miami-Dade
Along with being a manager in Surgeon’s Cosmetic Center & Medspa, 8585 SW 72nd St., Suite 107, Dr. Enrique Gomez was the designated physician. That means Gomez was responsible for the place being in compliance with health and safety regulations for licensed office surgery centers.
An administrative complaint says Surgeon’s had a few compliance issues during a September 2021 inspection:
▪ “One of the physicians performing office-based surgery was not registered with the Board of Medicine.”
▪ At least one and possibly more patients weren’t told in writing before the surgery at which hospital surgeon has staff privileges or a transfer agreement and where that hospital is in relation to Surgeon’s Cosmetic.
▪ Surgical logs for one or more patients were missing.
▪ The “crash cart” didn’t have the required amounts of Dopamine, Lidocaine, Atropine or Epinephrine.
Gomez has been fined $1,000 and will pay $604.23 in Department of Health case costs; is required to take two five-hour continuing medical education courses, one in laws, rules and ethics and another in risk management; and has a letter of concern filed against his license.
Surgeon’s Cosmetic Center was not punished. The license was closed not long after the inspection and the corporation never again filed its required corporate paperwork with the state.
Now operating in Suite 107 is Vitto MD Plastic Surgery and Anti-Aging Center. Dr. Enrique Gomez is one of the surgeons.
Drew Lieberman, Bal Harbour
The Board of Medcine officially accepted Dr. Drew Lieberman’s license relinquishment.
The Florida Department of Health filed an administrative complaint on March 27 that likely would have ended in Lieberman losing his license anyway. But Lieberman already had notified the department of his voluntary relinquishment. So, on the April 3 official paperwork for that filing, Dr. Drew Lieberman printed, “THANKS FOR THE LETTER, BUT I HAVE ZERO INTEREST IN EVER PRACTICING MEDICINE IN THIS COUNTRY AGAIN ANYWAYS. ALSO, I ALREADY RELINQUISHED MY LICENSE VOLUNTARILY.”
As Compass Detox’s chief medical officer, instead of helping patients get off drugs, he and medical director Jose Santiero (see below) kept the drugs flowing to the patients, which kept patients in place and kept the money flowing to Compass.
Lieberman, now 61, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. His sentence included $1.8 million in restitution, $39,000 in forfeiture and a $20,000 fine and a year and a day in federal prison. He was released from federal prison in January to his 3-bedroom, 5 1/2-bathroom, 5,442-square foot home in Bal Harbour.
READ MORE: Miami doctor who kept addicts drugged in a $60 million fraud gives up his license
Rene Mayorga Baranello, Doral
Like Dr. Alonson (above), Dr. Rene Baranello skipped his annual $250 assessment to the Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. He has been fined $1,000, plus $895.32 in case costs and has to take a five-hour continuing medical education course in laws, rules and ethics.
Pedro Reyes Farinas, Tamarac
A woman came into Jupiter Medical Center’s emergency department on Jan. 11, 2021, saying she had trouble urinating and had groin pain, about an 8 on a 1-to-10 scale.
She would be dead by the end of the day.
In the interim, the administrative complaint said, Dr. Pedro Reyes Farinas did a urinalysis that showed no infection and ordered a CT scan that showed no pathology. He noted a heart rate elevated to 109 and a blood pressure down to 82/53. He ordered a drug to treat bladder spasms and released her.
Reyes didn’t order a blood test.
The woman returned to Jupiter Medical Center and said the abdominal pain was worse. The complaint said she died of sepsis on Jan. 11, 2021.
The complaint said Reyes fell short of the “prevailing standard of care” by not ordering a blood test. He was fined $5,000 plus $4,128.48 in Florida Department of Health case costs and has to take two five-hour continuing medical education classes, one on recognizing sepsis and one on risk management.
Jose Santeiro, Miami Lakes
Santeiro, 62, voluntarily surrendered his license after his involuntarily surrendering his freedom. Santeiro got four years and six months of time following his conviction on healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud charges. The Miami Lakes resident also was hit with a $2.1 million restitution order.
As the medical director of Compass Detox (see Drew Lieberman above) and WAR Network, Santeiro fed drug addicts more drugs to keep them as patients, savaging their mental and physical health in a $112 million healthcare fraud.
READ MORE: South Florida doctor at center of ‘sober homes’ case sent to prison with others for fraud
Alan Swartz, Sunny Isles Beach
An emergency suspension order hit Dr. Swartz’s license Oct. 5 and an administrative complaint was filed Oct. 13, which likely will end in Swartz losing his license. But Swartz, like Lieberman above, already took himself out of the medical game by declaring himself retired.
READ MORE: Where are the doctors who fueled a $6 million Miami pill mill? In prison, retired, dead
Swartz doesn’t have a career, but will have a probation officer until December 2024. He got three years’ probation for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud after admitting his part in the $6.7 million scam being run out of General Care Center, a West Miami-Dade pill mill masquerading as a “pain management clinic.”
