FL Doctor Didn't Hear Patient Scream During Exam: Reports

TAMPA, FL — A Tampa gastroenterologist is on probation after state officials accused him of performing a procedure without his hearing aids, making him unable to hear a screaming colonoscopy patient, reports say.

The Florida Department of Health also fined Dr. Ishwari Prasad, who was additionally accused of conducting a colonoscopy without a medical license for scope insertion, the Miami Herald reported. The state department reportedly filed a complaint against the doctor.

Prasad's practitioner profile lists him as probation/active. He has been a licensed physician since Aug. 1, 1993.

He allegedly inserted the colonoscopy scope into the patient before the person was completely sedated; and when the patient started yelling, Prasad allegedly did not realize the person was not fully sedated and "did not immediately stop the procedure," Fox 13 Tampa reported.

"The patient woke up in the middle of this thing and the staff couldn't communicate with the physician," said Dr. Jay Wolfson, interim dean at the University of South Florida College of Public Health, as reported by Fox 13. "It's a traumatic experience. All of a sudden, you're awake. You've been anesthetized, you've been sedated, you don't know what's happening. You're feeling pain."

Prasad was fined $7,500, is required to pay $6,301 in Florida Department of Health case costs and must take a five-hour continuing medical education course in laws, rules and ethics before Aug. 7, 2025, the Herald reported.

In an emailed statement, Prasad called the complaint against him a "false report" and is contesting it, Fox 13 reported.

Read more via Fox 13 and the Miami Herald.