Heart surgeon charged with 'professional incompetency,' harmful practices

Michael Walter | May 01, 2023 | Cardiovascular Business | Cardiac Surgery

The Iowa Board of Medicine has filed multiple charges against a prominent heart surgeon for actions that allegedly took place when he was the director for cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

Giovanni Ciuffo, MD, who currently resides in Nevada, was charged with “professional incompetency,” “practice harmful of detrimental to the public” and “knowingly making misleading, deceptive, untrue or fraudulent representations in the practice of medicine and surgery.” Read the full statement of charges here.

The Iowa Board of Medicine did share a more detailed summary of these charges with Ciuffo, but it is not part of the public record. Ciuffo has 20 days to respond to the charges. A scheduling conference for discussing pre-hearing deadlines will take place May 22 at 9:00 a.m.

Ciuffo’s Iowa medical license is still active, according to the statement of charges, but he currently lives in Nevada.

A new report from the Sioux City Journal provides additional context, noting that some of Ciuffo’s alleged actions were detailed in a 2022 lawsuit filed by MercyOne’s former cardiovascular service line director, Cynthia Tener. In her lawsuit, Tener said that she believed Ciuffo had performed high-risk procedures without obtaining the proper consent and even filed false paperwork. In one specific instance mentioned in Tener’s lawsuit, Ciuffo allegedly treated one patient without following the original surgical plan. The patient died after the procedure.

When Tener came forward with these allegations, she said she was suspended and then fired. As a result, she filed her lawsuit against Mercy Health Services-Iowa Corp. and Trinity Health Corporation. A trial is scheduled for February, the Sioux City Journal reported.

Ciuffo is not a defendant in Tener’s lawsuit.

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Michael Walter, Managing Editor

Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.

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