Desert View Hospital Chief of Staff C. King Bibby, Wednesday, defended the performance of Dr. Ming-Wei Wu, who was allowed to resume performing surgeries at the hospital without restrictions following a decision by the Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine May 5.

Wu had agreed not to perform surgeries where an anesthetic was involved at Desert View Hospital prior to an emergency hearing by the Osteopathic Board March 11.

That hearing stemmed from five complaints against Wu, one of them involving a colonoscopy performed on a woman admitted to Desert View Hospital Dec. 28 with rectal bleeding.

Out of five complaints, Wu accepted a letter of public reprimand for an admission of surgical error on one case at Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas.

Wu agreed to participate in a skill assessment sanctioned by the Federation of State Medical Boards. He will participate in a Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons 2009 course along with a University of California Los Angeles course. He also agreed to pay $21,577 toward the board investigation and his own legal fees.

Bibby testified in front of the board hearing but didn't listen to all of the witnesses. Bibby said when Wu agreed to limit his practice to cases not requiring anesthesia, it wasn't an admission of guilt but a way to demonstrate a spirit of cooperation with the board pending his hearing.

"The complaint is that there was negligence in some fashion causing this complication. But in that context, let me say that every surgical procedure has a potential complication. The best surgeons can have an unexpected outcome and complication. That doesn't mean they're bad surgeons," Bibby said.

Colonoscopies in particular, have the potential complication of a perforation of the bowel, Bibby said.

"My understanding is it was the board's conclusion that he did not perform outside established guidelines, acting in a negligent manner," he said.

Bibby disputed an allegation that Wu didn't maintain the care and treatment of the patient at the Las Vegas Hospital.

Bibby said he was the emergency room physician who recommended the transfer of the patient to a Las Vegas hospital about 6 a.m. that day.

"I called Wu and he was actually in telephone conversation with the accepting physician in Las Vegas," Bibby said. "He did follow up with the patient and as our standard protocol, I went to the bedside. There was a decision to make an emergency transfer."