Washington doctor accused of doing unnecessary spinal surgeries is under investigation

A Washington doctor is being investigated after being accused of performing unnecessary spinal surgeries for his personal gain, the Department of Health said.

The Washington State Department of Health is investigating Dr. Jason Dreyer, a surgeon who currently works at MultiCare in Spokane.

From August 2014 to January 2017, Dreyer performed a number of spine surgeries that have since been called into question by the patients at Providence St. Mary’s in Walla Walla, the officials said in a statement of charges.

“(Dreyer) practiced below medical standards of care by performing extensive spine surgeries without clear medical indications,” Department of Health officials wrote. “Specifically, (he) overstated the patients’ diagnosis of ‘dynamic instability’ to justify spinal fusion surgeries, overstated treatments performed during spine surgeries and inadequately charted in patients’ records.”

The department received multiple allegations against Dreyer, and officials restricted his medical license during the investigation so he cannot perform spinal surgeries while their review is ongoing.

In one complaint, a 66-year-old patient went to Dreyer in 2016 with low back pain he had been experiencing for six years. Dreyer diagnosed the patient with multiple conditions, for which he recommended and performed spinal fusion surgery. Health officials said that scans of the patient only showed an issue that would require a less invasive decompression surgery.

In 2015, the health department received a complaint from a 47-year-old woman who had back and leg pain that began a year before after the patient fell down stairs. Dreyer allegedly stated that the woman’s symptoms were “severe and continuous.” He recommended spine fusion surgery, but health officials said images showed “very minor disc abnormalities.”

Additionally, Dreyer’s notes said procedures were performed “for the purpose of decompression,” but images taken after the surgery indicate that the procedure was not performed for that purpose.

“Performing spine surgery on a patient with minor disc abnormalities, minimal spinal stenosis is not within the medical standard of care,” Department of Health officials wrote.

The Department of Health cited five additional complaints from patients with similar stories where the diagnosis and procedure did not appear to align with the medical records of the patients’ conditions or what is standard in the medical practice.

“The alleged indications are that the surgeries were performed for financial gain,” the Department of Health wrote in a findings of fact document. “It is alleged (Dreyer) has shown a pattern of misrepresenting and/or overstating diagnoses of instability for multiple patients to justify spinal fusion surgeries.”

MultiCare, Dreyer’s current workplace, told KREM that it requires all of its physicians to be in good standing with the state’s guidelines.

“MultiCare requires all physicians, whether they are employed by MultiCare or not, to be in good standing with the state to practice medicine at our facilities,” spokesman Kevin Maloney told the news outlet. “We await the results of the state’s investigation.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 9:03 AM.