A view of the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, New Mexico. Photo from Johnson Smitthipong & Rosamond Associates
The Indian Health Service employed a physician who has been disciplined in three states and has been sanctioned by the Department of Justice. Annicol Marrocco lacks a license to practice in New Mexico. Yet she was hired at the Northern Navajo Medical Center, an IHS facility in Shiprock, and is being blamed for providing "shockingly poor medical care and treatment" to a young member of the Navajo Nation who now suffers from permanent disabilities. Begay, who is 18 years old, went to the facility in June 2014 complaining of dizziness, headaches and other neurological problems. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Marrocco diagnosed him with conjunctivitis -- or pink eye -- and sent him home with ibuprofen. A week later, Begay returned with similar symptoms. He was taken to another hospital in Albuquerque, where physicians discovered that he suffered brain death, a condition that resulted in the permanent paralysis of his arms and legs. He also cannot speak. Begay's family is now suing the federal government, a company that provided services to the IHS and Marrocco herself in three separate lawsuits. The complaints point out that Marrocco was not licensed in New Mexico and has been disciplined in New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Additionally, the Drug Enforcement Administration sanctioned Marrocco for repeatedly prescribing painkillers to a person with whom she was in a personal relationship. According to a notice that was published in the Federal Register in May, she issued 49 prescriptions while working as a "contract emergency room physician at the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, New Mexico." "The negligence of NNMC and its physicians and staff is practically unparalleled," the complaint against the federal government stated. "For example, the physician who treated Lydell Begay, Annicol Marrocco was acting under restricted medical licenses and required close supervision. NNMC provided no such supervision." "As a result of defendant's negligent medical care, misdiagnosis and failure to adequately credential staff, or supervise the emergency room at NNMC, Lydell Begay suffered catastrophic and permanent injuries that have all but taken this young man's life away," it continued. Government attorneys responded to the complaint on July 6, on the same day a clerk in the federal court granted default judgment to Begay. However, Judge James O. Browning vacated the order because it had been entered erroneously and prematurely.
Medicus Healthcare Solution, the contractor that provides services to the IHS at the Northern Navajo Medical Center, is the defendant in the second lawsuit. The company filed a motion to dismiss on July 17.
The third lawsuit, against Marrocco, was filed in state court in New Mexico. Get the Story:Lawsuit: Man's paralysis caused by unlicensed Shiprock doctor's negligence (The Farmington Daily Times 7/25)
Family Says Doctor Has Bad History (Courthouse News Service 6/15) Federal Register Notice:
Annicol Marrocco, M.D.; Decision and Order (May 19, 2015)
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