A plaintiff's attorney has asked a judge to force a Detroit-area physician accused of intentionally misdiagnosing at least 250 children to return to the U.S. for further deposition, according to Michigan Radio.
Roughly 250 former pediatric patients and their families filed a class-action lawsuit against Yasser Awaad, MD, in 2008, alleging Dr. Awaad subjected patients to unnecessary and inappropriate medication, treatment and medical testing by purposely misdiagnosing them with epilepsy for his own financial gain, according to the report.
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs' Michigan Board of Medicine Disciplinary Subcommittee placed Dr. Awaad on probation in 2012 and required him to pay a $10,000 fine and complete 30 hours of continuing education, the report states. He was discharged from probation in August 2015.
Shortly after he was discharged from probation, Dr. Awaad entered into a contract with Royal Oak, Mich.-based Beaumont Health. A spokesperson for the health system told Becker's Hospital Review Dr. Awaad "had a contract to develop pediatric neurology educational materials for residents and students. [Once] he completed this work, the contract ended and was not renewed."
During his deposition last month, Dr. Awaad, who has repeatedly denied any accusations of wrongdoing, said his contract with Beaumont Health had ended and that he planned to travel to Egypt and resume his work as a physician there, the report states. However, prosecutors argue they were not made aware of Dr. Awaad's travel plans.
"We're entitled to … more hours of discovery deposition time," prosecutor Brian McKeen told Michigan Radio. "This information about him planning to leave the country was not shared with us until shortly before he left. Therefore we were unable to complete the depositions before his departure."
Prior to his deposition last month, Dr. Awaad was deposed in September 2016 and at least once before he began working at Beaumont Health in 2015, according to a Crain's Detroit Business report from nearly one year ago. He reportedly traveled outside of the U.S. between each deposition.
Dr. Awaad's attorney declined to comment or disclose Dr. Awaad's location to Michigan Radio. A spokesperson for Beaumont Health also declined to comment to the radio station Monday, citing pending litigation.
Prosecutors said they hope to receive a response from the judge regarding Dr. Awaad's return within the next 30 days, according to Michigan Radio.
Editor's note: This article was updated Oct. 26 at 3:05 p.m. to include additional comment from Beaumont Health.