The owner and sole radiologist of a Virginia breast imaging center voluntarily handed over his medical license recently after the state board of medicine charged him with misreading a number of mammograms.
Michael Bigg first surrendered his license on January 25 but the Virginia Board of Medicine approved the move on Wednesday, according to a consent order obtained from the Virginia Department of Health Professions by Richmond 6 News.
Bigg is currently facing eight different lawsuits filed by former patients, alleging his misreads caused delays in their diagnoses and treatments. In prior responses, the former owner of Allison Breast Center has denied all allegations.
“Dr. Bigg has been practicing radiology for over 40 years and has saved the lives of countless patients,” Bigg’s lawyers said in a November statement to the news outlet. “He trusts the legal process and will not try cases in the media."
Back in May, the board of medicine released a 61-page report in which they labeled Bigg as “incompetent to practice medicine and surgery” due to his pattern of misreading mammograms.
For at least one patient, wrongly interpreted scans in 2018 and 2019 lead to a 16-month delay in diagnosis and treatment. That individual noted that one of her chemotherapy drug treatments has left her with heart failure.
And in September, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration pulled the breast imaging center’s mammography certification after an official review revealed quality deficiencies in its exams.
In response to the closure, his wife, Gillian Bigg, penned a lengthy note:
“We are truly so sorry that you have had to go through this and are heartbroken by any negative feelings that may have resulted from this. We always felt our patients and staff were like family to us and still feel the same way.”
Read the entire story below.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.