Doctor’s License Suspended for 6 Months After Patient Suffers Brain Damage

At age 36, Dale Whyte is a prisoner in his own body. As a victim of Medical Malpractice, Dale suffered permanent brain damage and is unable to care for himself. Dr. Thomas Rodenberg, the physician responsible for Dale’s injury will face a 6 month suspension and a $40,000.00 fine, which is really a non-issue because Dr. Rodenberg is on house arrest. To that end, Dr. Rodenberg is fighting criminal charges that he and six other doctors illegally sold pain killers to undercover agents during a federal pill mill probe.

As a Miami Medical Malpractice Lawyer it is hard to watch the devastating effects of malpractice go without any meaningful disciplinary action by the board of medicine.

The allegation in this case are that Dr. Rodenberg, an anesthesiologist, kept inadequate and inaccurate medical records and failed to properly respond when Dale Whyte went into cardiac arrest at a Pompano Beach surgical center in 2008. Whyte was undergoing a chiropractic manipulation under anesthesia, a controversial procedure which involves using anesthesia to accomplish chiropractic maneuvers that pain would normally prevent. During the procedure Whyte’s heart rate slowed and his brain did not receive oxygen(hypoxia).

As reported by the Department of Health, Rodenberg refused to acknowledge anything was wrong as nurses streamed into the room. The monitor’s alarm sounded, but Rodenberg twice turned it off.

As reported by the Sun Sentinel, this was not Rodenberg’s first incident. In 2005, a 53-year-old woman died while under Rodenberg’s anesthesia treatment at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. That infraction resulted in a fine and community service.

in June 2008, a 43-year-old woman died while undergoing anesthesia and a pain treatment by Rosenberg.

The public relies on the Board of Medicine to regulate doctors. Patients want to believe in the system and really do not have either the ability or the knowledge to investigate doctors prior to seeing them. Interestingly enough health grades and other web monitor services give Dr. Rodenberg good reviews.