George H. Pfaltzgraff, M.D., a 66-year-old physician who practices surgery in Iowa Falls, Iowa, entered into a settlement agreement with the Iowa Board of Medicine on June 2, 2011.
On July 8, 2009, the Board charged Dr. Pfaltzgraff with performing a tubal ligation on a female patient in 2008, without obtaining proper consent. The Board alleges that the patient affirmatively told Dr. Pfaltzgraff that she did not want a tubal ligation, she did not sign a consent form for a tubal ligation, and Dr. Pfaltzgraff performed the procedure without proper consent.
A tubal ligation, according to Wikipedia, “is a surgical procedure for sterilization in which a woman’s fallopian tubes are clamped and blocked, or severed and sealed, either method of which prevents eggs from reaching the uterus for fertilization. Tubal ligation is considered a permanent method of sterilization, and birth control.”
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the Board placed Dr. Pfaltzgraff on probation for a period of three years subject to Board monitoring. The Board also issued Dr. Pfaltzgraff a public reprimand, ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine and complete a Board-approved professional ethics program.
