Physician’s practice restricted

PHOTOGRAPHER: Edward Munger Jr.

An Amsterdam physician accused of incompetence and negligence is prohibited from practicing emergency medicine for the next two years under provisions of an agreement with the state Board for Professional Medical Conduct.

Glenn Pizarro, M.D., a family practitioner with an office in the Riverfront Center and privileges at St. Mary’s and Amsterdam Memorial hospitals, was charged with professional misconduct following an investigation, according to the consent agreement and order.

Pizarro could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A call placed to the office of his attorney, Brendan F. Baynes of Albany, was not returned Wednesday.

According to three allegations cited under a statement of charges, Pizarro treated an unidentified patient in 2001 and failed to recognize and address the patient’s low blood sugar.

In another instance, Pizarro is accused of ordering an inappropriate increase of insulin for a patient in his care between April 2002 and July 2003.

In the third case, Pizarro was accused of inadequately monitoring the blood clotting time of a patient under his care at the former Montgomery Meadows nursing home in Amsterdam. That patient, identified by her daughter as Elizabeth Phillips Noble, was 72 when she died at the facility.

Noble’s daughter, Virginia LaFreniere of Schenectady, who spoke to The Daily Gazette in 2005, filed a complaint with the state Health Department after learning details of her mother’s case.

LaFreniere could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

A Health Department review of Noble’s case faulted both staff at the nursing home and Pizarro.

Noble’s care plan stated she was at risk of bleeding because of anticoagulant drugs and ordered that she be monitored for signs and symptoms of bleeding, but abnormalities were found in lab tests a month before Noble died.

Pizarro told investigators he was not notified about the lab tests and told the Health Department he visited Noble twice monthly and reviewed medications for effectiveness as well as laboratory data.

A Health Department report on the investigation stated that Pizarro’s notes from the most recent visit prior to Noble’s death made no mention of the blood-thinning drug Coumadin or recent monitoring of lab data.

According to the consent order and agreement, Pizarro is on probation for the next two years and can practice medicine only when his practice is monitored by a board-certified physician.