NJ doctor is barred from practicing after death of a patient
Cited for negligence, incompetence in 2017
An emergency room doctor will no longer be allowed to practice medicine in New Jersey after she agreed to relinquish her license due to allegations of “gross negligence, gross malpractice, and gross incompetence” in the death of a 20-year-old patient, authorities said Thursday.
Dr. Shar Kennett signed a consent order last month with the State Board of Medical Examiners, almost a year after she admitted at a hearing that she did not order any diagnostic tests for the patient, who was at Overlook Medical Center in Summit.
The case dates back to June 29, 2017, when a young man who was having trouble breathing was brought into Overlook’s emergency room, where Kennett was on duty.
Authorities said the patient’s condition was labeled urgent, but Kennett failed to examine him and did not order any diagnostic testing despite urgent requests from the patient’s parents.
The patient died from respiratory arrest that night, the consent order says.
He has not been publicly identified by the State Board of Medical Examiners.
Kennett’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
“The alleged conduct of this physician demonstrates an appalling lack of professionalism and good judgment that pose a grave risk to those in her care,” said Cari Fais, acting director of the Division of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the board.
The board received a complaint from the patient’s mother in 2022 and began an investigation. At a hearing in March 2023, Kennett said she had examined the patient twice but did not document her findings until hours later, after he died.
She admitted that she did not order any diagnostic tests after believing she had, according to documents.
The board determined that Kennett engaged in “dishonesty, fraud, deception, misrepresentation, false promise or false pretense” when she “falsely documented that she had evaluated the patient in a timely manner,” the consent order reads.
Kennett signed the order on March 27 giving up her license.
Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement that the death happened “under circumstances that should never occur in a New Jersey emergency room.”