Dale R. Stemple, MD is a doctor in California. In 1999, he was disciplined after allegations of gross negligence, repeated acts of negligence, incompetence and unprofessional conduct regarding his invasive cardiological care of 10 patients.
In 2018, the California Medical Board issued an accusation with regard to Stemple’s treatment and care of six patients. The pending Second Amended Accusation charges Stemple with Repeated Negligent Acts and Failure to Maintain Adequate and Accurate Medical Records regarding his care and treatment of three patients.
The California Medical Board alleged that Stemple committed repeated negligent acts in his care and treatment of one of the patients, a 36 year old woman, because he “failed to adequately obtain and/or document additional lyme disease evaluations and consultations.”
The Second Amended Accusation states that the patient B had a positive Lyme screening test but a negative confirmatory Western blot. Given this negative testing, the lack of specific symptoms such as a bulls eye rash, and the location being in California where Lyme disease is rare, it’s unclear if the patient ever had Lyme disease. But regardless, Stemple prescribed multiple courses of antibiotics over years that don’t appear to have been justified.
According to the Second Amended Accusation:
Despite multiple courses of antibiotics, Patient B’s symptoms did not significantly improve. [Stemple] failed to document a written consult with a specialist. Patient B has had continued antibiotics with minimal improvement of her symptoms.
The Second Amended Accusation contains more detail about the alleged poor treatment of all three patients.
updated 2019-03-21
Resources
4patientsafety.org: Dale Stemple
California Medical Board: Dale Stemple Discipline, 1999
Trinity County Grand Jury: Report on a Citizens Complaint, 2001
California Medical Board: Dale Stemple Decision, 2002
California Medical Board: Dale Stemple Accusation, 2018-04-13
California Medical Board: Dale Stemple First Amended Accusation, 2018-05-22
California Medical Board: Dale Stemple Second Amended Accusation, 2019