Call Kurtis Investigation: Doctor Fined For Failure To Provide Medical Records

The state Medical Board is taking action against a doctor exposed in a Call Kurtis investigation.

Dr. Glenda Goodwin has now been fined $1,500. It stems from a months-long ordeal involving a state worker who said her surgery was held up because Goodwin wouldn't turn over her medical records.

"It's hard to describe, but I feel lighter almost," says Stephanie Small.

Small was in pain, but happy, just days after getting a long-awaited surgery. On her way to recovery, she's doing much better than when we met her over the summer.

"It's pretty painful, it's pelvic pain, pain down my leg," Stephanie told us in July.

Suffering from endometriosis, she needed that surgery, but she says doctors weren't willing to perform it without seeing her medical records.

Stephanie says Goodwin, her OB/GYN, became unresponsive and ignored requests since last October to turn over Stephanie's file. Under state law, doctors have 15 days within a patient's request to comply.

"She never called, she never wrote, she never emailed," Stephanie told us.

It wasn't until our first story aired that Stephanie says her medical group approved the surgery, without her records. But she was disappointed with the Medical Board's slow response. She complained to them in November.

"I have to say that the Medical Board has frustrated me because they took their time and because of that I had to wait for surgery," says Stephanie.

The Medical Board finally obtained Stephanie's records in August and now it is fining Dr. Goodwin $1,000 for the delay. In its citation, the Medical Board says "From February 1, 2011, you failed to provide the Medical Board of California, medical records or copies of the medical records of one patient (S.S.), within 15 days of receipt of the request."

The state also fined Goodwin another $500 for not providing Stephanie with her complete records.

Goodwin has 30 days to appeal or pay each citation.

Stephanie says the Medical Board is still investigating her original complaint, which claimed Dr. Goodwin abandoned her.

"I believe she should treat every patient as if it was her daughter or her mother," says Stephanie.

After her surgery, she's now on her way to living a normal, pain-free life.

"I can see that light at the end of the tunnel. It was worth the fight," says Stephanie.

We reached out to Dr. Goodwin's office and staff there blamed their software company for the record delay. The software company denies that.