Medical board accuses psychiatrist Latif Ziyar of negligence, corruption in patient death

May 1, 2009

The Medical Board of California issued an Amended Accusation against psychiatrist Latif Ziyar, seeking to revoke or suspend his license. According to the Board’s document, Ziyar treated a 35-year-old male with a history of mental disorder who had quit taking the antipsychotic drug Clozaril, which he had been on for some time. Clozaril carries strict warnings regarding restarting of the drug once a patient has missed even as little as one day’s dosage. If restarted, the recommended dosage is a mere 12.5 mg. This patient had been off the drug for one month, according to reports referenced in the Board’s document. At the time the patient came under Ziyar’s care, Ziyar was informed that the patient had been off the drug and several documents were in the patient’s chart, available to Ziyar, containing data about the patient’s discontinuation of the drug. Further, Ziyar was informed via data gathered by his nurse from the patient’s board and care facility that he was not to be put back on the drug due to the time elapsed since he quit taking it. Regardless of all this information, Ziyar ordered 300 mgs of Clozaril nightly for the patient. The morning following the first of these doses, the patient was found to be not breathing and was shortly thereafter pronounced dead. In addition to charging Ziyar with negligence for committing an extreme departure from the standard of care, they also charged him with dishonesty/corruption for making misrepresentations to Board investigators concerning his treatment of the patient.

(Amended Accusation, In the Matter of the Amended Accusation Against: Latif Ziyar, M.D., Case No. 08-2005-168536, Medical Board of California, May 1, 2009.)