Former Dr. Berto Lopez was recently found liable for $100 million in the case of a baby boy whose circumcision he is accused of botching.
But that's not the only circumcision Lopez reportedly mishandled. He is accused of another — part of a line of 14 serious injuries that include the deaths of six mothers and children, The Palm Beach Post discovered in a 2021 investigation.
Lopez had a 33-year career as a doctor in Palm Beach County before the Florida Board of Medicine revoked his license in 2021. That didn't stop him from performing the circumcision that essentially severed parts of the baby's penis.
6 women, babies dead.Botched circumcisions. Catastrophic injuries. Why this baby doctor practiced for decades
Who were the injured and dead patients and what happened to them?
Lopez practiced in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Wellington. Some of the patients who died or suffered catastrophic injuries were on Medicaid, the health care insurance that helps people who are poor. Lopez early in his career worked for the Palm Beach County Health Care District, the county health safety net for underserved people.
Here are some of the cases of death and injury to mothers and children:
Jorge Douglas Miranda Romero watched his wife,OnysteiCastillo-Lopez, give birth to their second child, a healthy baby boy, in July 2017.Within minutes, the bleeding started, and it never ended. Dr. Lopez had gone home to change his scrubs as Castillo-Lopez was wheeled into surgery. The 41-year-old medical assistant who loved to travel died that night. Her 8-year-old girl learned that she now had a baby brother, but that her mother was lost forever.
Her case led to Lopez's license revocation. Here some more cases:
- Crystal Diane Hicks, infant.Lopez, in a deposition, said he was accused of not performing a timely C-section, causing her death in 1988.
- Earl Buchanan, infant.Records available show settlement of a lawsuit filed against Lopez in 1992 for his death.
- Nakia Gilmore, 18,died followinga 1994 procedure during childbirth. Records do not indicate the cause of death.
- Samuel Mercedes, infant.A neural tube defect was not diagnosed and the baby suffered severe birth defects, according to 1994 court documents.
- Michelle Hirt, 31.Lopezfailed to fully remove her dead fetus in 2002, ignoring a pathology report, according to the Florida Health Department.Hirt said she gave birth to the remains in a friend's bathroom.
- The small intestine ofJoyce Rivers, 56, was punctured during an outpatient procedure to remove her ovary in July 2012, and she died of complications, according to the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office.
- Ashley Perez, a 29-year-old mother, died in April 2014 from internal bleeding following a C-section and tubal ligation in which an ovarian stitch gave way, according to Florida Health Department (DOH) documents.
- Dominic Shelton, a baby boy, suffered severe brain damage, leading tocerebralpalsyafter a delayed cesarean section in April 2011, a lawsuit says.
- Matthew Dixson, ababy boy, was born with a broken arm and permanent nerve damage in November 2011becausea C-section wasn't performed, a lawsuit says.
- JoannCatlett,47,was incapacitatedfor six months after a hysterectomy during which her ureter, the duct that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder, wascut. She sued and won a settlement.
- A woman that thestate identifies only asL.R., age 32, suffered a postpartum hemorrhage in July 2014 after a tubal ligation, DOH documents say. She lost 6 liters of blood but lived.
- Baby R.R.R.lost his penisin acircumcision in May 2017, a lawsuit says. The suit was settled.
- Baby G.L.lost a third of hispenisinthe same procedure in February 2021, his parents say. They recently won a $100 million award against Lopez.
'His last butchered patient':Ex-doctor owes $100 million to family of boy whose penis he severed
When did Berto Lopez move to Palm Beach County and start practicing?
Lopezgraduated from theUniversity of Georgiawith a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, then attended theMedical College of Georgiain Augusta.He completed his residency atEmory Universityin Atlanta.
He began practicing in Palm Beach County in 1987, state records show. The next year, he was one of two doctors sued over the death of Crystal Diane Hicks at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. The suit was settled in 1990 for a confidential sum.
More:Average OB-GYN faces 2 or 3 lawsuits during a career. This Palm Beach County doctor had 9
Florida had a law on the books to prevent bad doctors from practicing. What went wrong?
Florida voters in 2004 approved a "three strikes" law to revoke the licenses of doctors found by the state Board of Medicine, a judge or an arbitrator to have committed malpractice three times.
The definition of "malpractice" makes the law extremely hard to work. If a lawsuit is settled, as many are, no finding of malpractice results.
The board of medicine also rarely makes a finding. They often will impose sanctions and require education after an agreement is made, which is like a settlement in which the doctor does not admit he did anything wrong.
How could Berto Lopez have practiced after board revoked license?
Lopez's license was revoked Feb. 5, 2021, in the case of the death of Castillo-Lopez. But it didn't take effect right away.
The order taking away his license was filed on Feb. 22. In the meantime, he was free to practice.
And he did.
On Feb. 15, the parents of a baby boy met Lopez at his office. They needed a doctor to perform a circumcision so they paid Lopez $250 in cash. Their baby boy is now deformed for a lifetime.
In a lifetime, OB/GYN can face maybe 2 or 3 malpractice suits. Lopez had 9
An exhaustivelook in court and official records byThe Post linked Lopez to at least 14 serious injuries of women and children, including six deaths.
Lopez had been named infour disciplinary casesand ninemalpractice actions, including suits overthe deaths of two infants, an injury to another and an 18-year-old mother who died in the 1990s.The average OB-GYN facestwoor three lawsuits during a career.
But there is no clearinghouse to piece together lawsuits, discipline and legal settlements to see whether a doctor's record is dangerous.
Holly Baltz is the investigations editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hbaltz@pbpost.com.
