A Brea physician, who is being prosecuted in a baby’s death and for being part of an alleged $100 million workers compensation fraud scam, recently had his medical license restricted pending the outcome of criminal proceedings filed in Orange County.
The interim suspension order agreed to by Dr. Andrew Robert Jarminski, his attorney Peter R. Osinoff and counsel for the Medical Board of California went into effect on Dec. 22.
Jaminski’s legal problems date back to criminal proceedings commenced in 2014 by an Orange County grand jury indictment of Kareem Ahmed of Landmark Medical Management in Ontario and 15 people including Jarminski.
The OCWeekly recent case summary notes that the original indictment specifically cast Ahmed as the ringleader, accusing him of: hiring pharmacists to produce compounded transdermal creams and paying kickbacks to several physicians and chiropractors, including Dr. Jarminski, for prescribing the cream to their workers’ compensation patients.
Ahmed’s attorneys managed to get most of the counts against their client tossed in March 2016. But the OCDA refiled charges against Ahmed and others that pushed the number of defendants up to 21 people and the alleged fraud ballooned to $100 million. Hearings in the case are set for Feb. 9 and 26 in Orange County Superior Court. Jarminski, had offices in Long Beach and Lawndale when he was first accused of having received $1.9 million in Landmark kickbacks.
As a result of events alleged in the OCDA criminal prosecution, the California Medical Board issued an Accusation against Jarminski in June, 2017 seeking to revoke his license. They claim he commenced treating Priscilla Lujan, an injured worker, in 2011. During the course of her treatment she gave birth to a child who was breastfeeding. The child died after ingesting residue from the compounded transdermal medication he prescribed for her. The ODCA pursued manslaughter charges against Jarminski, and others, for this death.
Attorneys for the defendants have vehemently denied the charges against them. As for Jarminski’s medical license, his lawyers argued that staying a suspension is appropriate because he is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and if he is convicted his license will be revoked by the medical board anyway.
Late last month, Administrative Law Judge Susan L. Formaker agreed that the public can be protected through the restrictions of the interim suspension order, which stipulates that Jarminski cannot dispense or prescribe non-FDA approved compounded medications before the matters before the criminal court and medical board are resolved.