POULSBO — On Feb. 13, 2014, Narinder Duggal was stripped of his medical license.
This summer he is in court, appealing the state’s decision and defending against three lawsuits and an anti-harassment order. Also being sued is Nicholas Wyatt, who was Duggal’s pharmacist at Liberty Bay Internal Medicine, which is now closed, at Bond Road and Highway 305.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuits are former patients whose accusations led to Duggal losing his license. The state Medical Quality Assurance Commission found Duggal had conducted himself in an unprofessional manner, made sexual advances toward patients, and overprescribed or misprescribed medications.
Allegations were made against Duggal by eight patients and investigated by an assistant state attorney general and the state Department of Health. After the state Medical Quality Assurance Commission’s findings, Duggal voluntarily surrendered his license.
One of his lawyers, Thomas Olmstead, said at the time that Duggal had seen “thousands of patients” in his 15 years of practice in Kitsap County. “Out of them, eight complained.” Olmstead also said Duggal brought forth hundreds of supportive letters from patients, but “the judge eliminated the positive letters to only four.”
In a phone call to the Herald on July 17, Duggal said he intended to “fight every one of these cases.” He said his accusers are “liars.”
Here’s where the cases stand:
— Appeal of loss of license: Scheduled for Oct. 9 in Thurston County Superior Court. According to court documents, Duggal signed an agreement with the Medical Quality Assurance Commission — called a “Stipulated Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Agreed Order” — on Jan. 15, 2014, in which he agreed to close his practice and surrender his medical license.
On Feb. 4, 2014, Duggal asked that the agreed order be withdrawn. The next day, the commission denied his request and approved the agreed order.
Duggal contends the commission denied him due process in not granting him an administrative hearing on his request to withdraw the agreed order.
— Reissuance of protection order: 2:30 p.m. July 17 in Kitsap County Superior Court. Judge Sally F. Olsen granted a plaintiff’s request for a protection order after Duggal allegedly made harassing remarks to her in the courthouse hallway after a hearing. The protection order was issued June 19.
In a declaration filed with the court on June 30, Duggal claims that she yelled at him in the hallway “in a derogatory tone.”
— Lawsuit dismissed “with prejudice”: On June 19, Superior Court Judge William Houser dismissed a plaintiff’s malpractice lawsuit against Duggal and Wyatt after she stated “in open court that she will not be presenting evidence at the time the case is scheduled to be read … and is not prepared to go forward,” Houser wrote in a document obtained from the Kitsap County Clerk’s online database. Trial was scheduled to begin June 23.
“With prejudice” means the case is dismissed permanently.
The plaintiff, who had been represented by a lawyer, represented herself at the pre-trial hearing. The alleged confrontation that led to the protection order occurred after this dismissal.
This case was filed March 28, 2013. The plaintiff had alleged the care and treatment she received for drug dependency was negligent. Among the allegations: That Duggal failed to “properly diagnose, treat, monitor and supervise” her care and treatment, and incorrectly prescribed medication.
The court had earlier denied Duggal’s request that the case be dismissed.
— Alleged malpractice: A plaintiff’s malpractice lawsuit against Duggal is scheduled for a 10-day jury trial beginning Dec. 8, 2015, in Judge Jay Roof’s courtroom. Among the allegations: That Duggal failed to “properly diagnose, treat, monitor and supervise” his care and treatment, and incorrectly prescribed medication. Wyatt was dismissed as a defendant on Dec. 29, 2014.
This case was filed Sept. 22, 2011 in King County Superior Court, with a change of venue to Kitsap County Superior Court on Nov. 2, 2011.
— Alleged malpractice, sexual assault: Trial is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Oct. 20 in Olsen’s courtroom in a lawsuit brought by a former patient and her husband. Wyatt is also a defendant.
This case was filed Dec. 17, 2012. The former patient alleges the care and treatment she received for pain management was negligent, and also that Duggal sent her sexually graphic text messages and, during one appointment, “assaulted and groped” her. Duggal denies these allegations and the allegations in the other cases.
