OLIVIA, Minn. - Two Olivia doctors have been disciplined by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice for mismanaging a labor and delivery that resulted in a pre-term birth.
The action was announced this week by the board, which oversees physician licensing in Minnesota.
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Dr. Mark Ahlquist and Dr. Paul Buhr were both reprimanded for failing to conform to minimal standards of acceptable medical practice.
The case involved an infant born six to eight weeks early after the two physicians failed to determine and confirm the baby's gestational age before scheduling a caesarean-section delivery. An ultrasound had been conducted but at another facility.
Both physicians list their primary practice location as RC Hospital and Clinics in Olivia.
The case came to the attention of the Board of Medical Practice after malpractice payments involving both doctors were reported to the board last year.
In meetings with the complaint review committee, Ahlquist and Buhr acknowledged they would have done things differently in their care of the patient.
According to public documents issued by the Board of Medical Practice, Ahlquist allegedly failed to review the medical record carefully enough to confirm that an ultrasound had been conducted at another facility. He told the committee he has made changes in his practice, including getting an ultrasound to confirm delivery dates and establishing a system to confirm that ultrasounds conducted at other facilities are received and reviewed.
Buhr acknowledged to the committee that he should have independently confirmed the delivery date. His medical license is currently inactive, according to the practitioner database maintained by the Board of Medical Practice.
