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What Do You Have to Do to Lose Your Medical License?

Chula Vista Abortion Clinic Replaces a Butcher With a Masher

by CARLOS REYES

The notorious Clinica Medica Para La Mujer de Hoy abortion clinic in Chula Vista has replaced the dangerous Dr. Phillip Rand with a man who was arrested in 2002 for drug possession and groping a young woman in the Gaslamp Quarter.

When the 84-year-old Rand, who has been sued multiple times in response to injuries -- some of them fatal -- he allegedly inflicted on his patients, surrendered his license under threat of revocation earlier this year, there was relief but no big shock wave among local pro-lifers who felt he should have lost his license years ago. Rand's replacement at the Bertha Bugarin-owned Clinica Medica, Dr. John Rivera, has had his own share of run-ins with the California Medical Board and the court system.

On May 20, 2002 the California Medical Board filed an accusation against Dr. Rivera for conviction of a crime, self-use of drugs, general unprofessional conduct and dishonesty.

The following is an excerpt from the Medical Board accusation (Case No.10-2001-125390) dealing with Rivera. "On or about Sept 7, 2001, T.B. was in the Gaslamp area of San Diego attending the Street Scene festival. She was standing in line waiting to purchase a couple of beers when Dr. John Rivera came up to her and began talking with her. He asked her if she would like to attend an ecstasy party the next night, but T.B. said she didn't do that kind of thing. Dr. Rivera then asked T.B. if she would buy him a beer. After she purchased two beers, T.B. turned around to leave when Dr. Rivera reached around another female standing between them and grabbed T.B. tightly in the vaginal area. T.B. hit Dr. Rivera in the head trying to make him let go. T.B. told T.P. what Dr. Rivera did and T.P. held Dr. Rivera down until police responded."

When they arrived, police officers found a baggie with white residue in it in Rivera's possession. Rivera told police that he found it and then that someone from Tijuana gave it to him. He denied using drugs that night. But a urine specimen showed he had been using ecstasy."

Rivera was convicted in criminal court on February 25, 2002, after pleading guilty to one count of being under the influence of a controlled substance. One year later, on April 28, 2003, the Medical Board revoked his license but stayed the order and placed Rivera on three years of probation and drug rehab classes. His probation lasts until April 2006.

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