Docs Can Be Sued for Consumer Fraud

Doctors and other professionals can be sued for consumer fraud, a state appellate court has ruled.

The decision issued last week allows a class-action lawsuit to go forward against Joseph Dello Russo, a noted Bergenfield, N.J. eye surgeon whose client list includes ABC newscaster Jack Ford and other celebrities. He's accused of using misleading and deceptive advertising.

Lawyers for the patients hailed the ruling as a landmark decision, but Steven Kern, the attorney for Dello Russo and the New Jersey Eye Group, said it was hard to comprehend.

"It creates a whole new cause of action at a time when we're in the midst of a medical malpractice crisis," Kern told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Friday's editions. "In many ways, it may undermine some of the progress we're making with the Legislature to curtail frivolous litigation."

The suit focuses on claims by two patients who said Dello Russo led them to believe he would perform their surgery and follow-up care.

However, the aftercare was provided by William T. Kellogg, a doctor whose license was revoked by the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners.

Dello Russo, who has performed more than 15,000 Lasik surgeries at three facilities in New York and New Jersey, denies the charges and says Kellogg was working in his office as a technician, not a doctor.

The trial judge dismissed the case, saying the state's Consumer Fraud Act -- which allows successful plaintiffs to recover three times their actual damages and legal fees -- did not apply to doctors.

The three-judge appellate panel overturned that ruling, finding that the act does not exempt doctors or other professionals, even though they work in highly regulated industries.

"When professionals engage in common commercial activity designed to attract the patronage of the public, they should be held to the same standards of truth and completeness that govern the sales activities of all other persons or entities," the court said in an opinion written by Judge Howard Kestin.

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Author: NBC10/AP