A Mission Viejo doctor was accused this month of major mistakes during two robotic surgeries. The accusations could cost him his medical license.
During one surgery, Dr. Aram Bonni is accused of removing a cyst discovered while he operated on a 78-year-old woman's vaginal hernia in 2010. He did not discuss the removal with the patient or her family, according to the accusation filed on Aug. 1 by Linda K. Whitney, executive director of the Medical Board of California.
The cyst should have been discovered before the surgery, Whitney said. Failing to do so constitutes "gross negligence," she said.
Bonni should have either ended the surgery and discussed the cyst with the patient or contacted the patient's family to discuss the situation, the MBC executive director said.
Instead he is accused of abandoning the original hernia surgery to remove the cyst. This required Bonni to cut into the woman's intestine, and that incision required a colorectal surgeon to cut into the woman's abdominal wall.
This type of cyst is usually benign, according to Medscape, but the risk of cancer is higher in women after menopause.
During the other surgery, also in 2010, Bonni is accused of accidentally cutting a vein, causing a 77-year-old woman to lose four pints of blood before another surgeon stopped the bleeding.
That kind of injury to the vein is "an extremely rare complication that should have been avoided with proper surgical technique," Whitney wrote.
Bonni owns a private practice at 26012 Marguerite Parkway called Urogynecology Associates, also known as Orange County Urogynecology. Other locations are listed in Ladera Ranch, Santa Ana and Los Angeles on the company's website.
Bonni is accused of unprofessional conduct, gross negligence, dishonesty and incompetence based on the two surgeries.
A message left with Urogynecology Associates after business hours Thursday has not been returned.
