An American physician who 'voluntarily' stopped practicing medicine in Massachusetts following a charge of sexual misconduct with an underage girl ended up, a few years later, working for two top up-market Kyiv medical clinics that boast Western standards
Physician who ‘voluntarily’ stopped practicing medicine in the U.S. State of Massachusetts following a charge of sexual misconduct with an underage girl ended up, a few years later, working for two up-market Kyiv medical clinics that boast Western professional standards.
Dr. Anthony Carbone, who until recently held top medical posts at Kyiv’s Eurolab medical laboratory and, prior to that, at the American Medical Centers (AMC) health clinic, was charged in 2000 with “inappropriate sexual contact with a 16-year-old female patient” by the Massachusetts Board of Medicine.
According to an August 2, 2000 statement published on the Massachusetts board’s website, Carbone was charged with “hugging and kissing the patient, touching her body inappropriately and making sexual remarks during office visits.”
According to Russell Aims, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Board of Medicine, the investigation was closed and the charges against Carbone were dropped by the board due to the death of the alleged victim.
In an agreement reached with the board, Carbone agreed to stop practicing medicine and is no longer listed in the directory of physicians licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts.
The statement also mentions Carbone’s “inappropriate social relationship” with a 21-year-old patient in the State of Virginia. In June 1999, the Virginia Board of Medicine ordered Dr. Carbone to complete a course on professional boundaries.
Carbone, a 1990 graduate of the Georgetown University School of Medicine, is an internist who has held licenses in Massachusetts, Virginia, New Hampshire and North Carolina.
On Feb. 23, Eurolab adversited in the Post its appointment of Carbone as “the new Chief Medical Officer for Eurolab, the largest and most sophisticated medical lab in Ukraine.”
“Dr. Carbone is well-known among the diplomatic, VIP and charitable communities in Kyiv, as well as Ukraine’s best clinical and academic institutions,” the half-page advertisement reads.
The management at Eurolab, which was launched over a year ago, and has already received upwards of $24 million in investment, acknowledged that it didn’t check very deeply into Carbone’s past.
“We didn’t know. By the time Mr. Carbone was leaving, we knew nothing. We did not know that his license was suspended,” said Eurolab General Director Andriy Palchevsky.
According to Palchevsky, Carbone was hired on a three-month trial basis and dismissed “because he didn’t deliver.”
“We are in business. He wasn’t a good specialist,” Palchevsky said.
In hiring the American doctor, Palchevsky said that Eurolab was satisfied by the fact that Carpone had worked for American Medical Centers.
And, he added, “to the best of my knowledge … he [Carbone] wasn’t supposed to” treat patients directly.
Carbone was originally recruited from Massachusetts to Ukraine by American Medical Centers, said Alex Sokol, managing director of AMC, where Carbone worked as Chief Medical Doctor from August of 2004 until his employment at Eurolab in Feb 2006.
Sokol said that all of Carbone’s credentials, including board certification, education, references and possible criminal records, were thoroughly checked.
Sokol said he couldn’t recall exactly which certification AMC verified.
The American Board of Internal Medicine includes Carbone on its website, but lists him as “not certified.”
The Feb. 23 Eurolab advertisement mentions Carbone’s 1997 certification in family medicine from the American Board of Family Practice (ABFM), a Kentucky-based medical board that evaluates physicians’ training and experience.
A verification letter provided by the ABFM on May 16 states that Carbone is not currently certified by this organization, as his certificate expired in 2004.
“At the time that we brought him on … we knew that his [Massachusetts] license was re-pending, reissuing,” said Sokol, who attributed this to Carbone’s academic hiatus at Harvard.
Sokol, who called the American doctor’s work “excellent,” said Carbone regularly ‘consulted’ with patients.
Sokol said that since American physicians often move from State to State, he saw nothing suspicious in Carbone’s paperwork, adding: “I was not aware of any disciplinary action.”
Carbone’s consulting fees at AMC were between $65 and $165 per patient, said Sokol. Eurolab’s Palchevsky suggested that Carbone’s patients might be more than just wealthy.
“All I know about Carbone … is that he was taking care of President [Viktor] Yushchenko’s family, because they were members of AMC.”
“I know that Mr. Carbone was keeping files of his (Yushchenko’s) kids … All I know [is] that when he was working for us, he said that before, when he was a member of AMC – whether he was treating or not treating, I do not know – but he was keeping records, medical records of Mr. Yushchenko’s kids.”
Palchevsky underlined that he had no written proof of Carbone’s claims. Sokol could neither confirm nor deny whether Yushchenko’s children were patients, citing patient confidentiality. Yushchenko’s spokesperson declined to reveal “personal” details of the president’s life.
According to Eurolab’s advertisement in the Post, Carbone was hired to ensure Eurolab maintains the highest level of “international standards of health care.”The Post has been unable to contact Carbone. His attorney did not respond to inquiries before the Post went to press.
