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To,
Chairperson, Professional Conduct Department,
College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta
2700, 10020 100 St NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 0N3
Dear Sir/Madam
RE: CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE COMPLAINT AGAINST DR. YVES STARREVELD
To err is human. Physicians and surgeons are also human beings, and they also make mistakes. Whether we like it or not, some mistakes made by physicians and surgeons are more dangerous and fraudulent compared to those made by other people.
I am writing this letter to file a formal complaint against Dr. Yves Starreveld, a Neurosurgeon at Foothills Medical Center located at 1403 29 St NW, Calgary, AB T2N 2T9, Canada. The patient in this case is the late Ben Walter, Patient’s PHN/MRN 918154590. I am authorized to bring this complaint through power of attorney granted by the patient’s brother, Insert Full Name of Patient’s Brother. Physicians, neurosurgeons and other medical practitioners have a duty of care to their patients to make decisions that protect the health and wellbeing of their patients. Dr. Starreveld suspected a high-grade glioblastoma in the patient’s brain. Because of the size and extension of the tumor, surgery was out of discussion. Traditional chemotherapy and radiation were the only options available.
On, Insert Date, Dr. Starreveld spoke with the brother of the patient to request consent to conduct a biopsy. In addition, Dr. Starreveld was asking for consent to use cells from that sample for his lab work. On Insert Date, I was conducted about this matter because the patient’s family was contemplating enrolling the patient in our Atavistic Chemotherapy Clinical Trial. I encouraged the family member to accept the biopsy, since it would be of benefit to us too. However, I was very explicit that it should be a needed biopsy, not an excisional biopsy, to avoid complications, such as further neurological deficits, infections, bleedings, etc.
The brother of the patient was assured that a needed biopsy would be done. On Insert Date, the surgery was conducted. Dr. Starreveld breached duty of care to make a decision that protected the health and wellbeing of his patient. Suffice to say, it was not even an excisional biopsy. Instead, Dr. Starreveld literally harvested a chunk from the patient’s brain, about 3.5 x 3.5 cm. It was taken from a critical area for movements. As a result of Dr. Starreveld’s breach of duty of care to his patient, the patient woke up hemiplegic and with other neurological deficits. Dr. Starreveld considered it more important to harvest enough tissue from the patient for his lab studies, than the health and wellbeing of the patient. I have attached scans and images of the needle biopsy.
The patient started experiencing problems with sodium, calcium, and potassium about two months into the treatment and entered into a coma. The diagnosis of acute adrenal insufficiency was made in Canada. Injections of hydrocortisone brought the patient out of his coma.
The patient was able to finish his eight months of atavistic chemotherapy treatment with excellent results. Based on our experience with other brain tumors treated with atavistic chemotherapy, the areas where the cancer cells were present before, were substituted by gliosis.
About two months after completing the treatment, the patient was still hemiplegic. The deep right-side hemiplegia, which was not present before the biopsy tormented the patient and his family after the procedure. This was an incapacity he could not improve despite his daily efforts to rehabilitate his right arm and leg. The patient lived the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair and unable to use his critically important right hand. He wanted to attend church for Christmas 2019, and expedited his efforts of physical rehabilitation in a local hospital. On Insert Date, during one of those sessions, the patient became physically exhausted, confused, followed by another coma the following day.
Being a Sunday in the hospital, with few qualified medical personnel, I assume, the condition was not recognized as an acute adrenal insufficiency triggered by the physical exercise. The patient died without injection of hydrocortisone by the medical students or residents. I was not contacted by the patient’s family since he was no longer under our care.
As physicians, we are at risk of making mistakes or causing problems in a patient that many times are impossible to avoid or predict. In this case, however, the act was intentional. As a Neurosurgeon and an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Epilepsy, Skull Base, PITNET, Radiosurgery at Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Institute of the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Dr. Starreveld was aware that removing that amount of tissue from that area of the brain could result in further neurological deficits. The actions of Dr. Starreveld constitute criminal negligence.
Reasons wherefore, I pray for the following: (i) a declaration that Dr. Starreveld was criminally negligent and liable for the suffering and misery experienced by the late patient during his last days; (ii) that this Department takes stern disciplinary action against him, including but not limited to, revocation of Dr. Starreveld’s practicing license; and (iii) any other form of disciplinary action against Dr. Starreveld that the Department deems fit and proper.
Respectfully Submitted,
______________________________
Dr. Frank Arguello, MD
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