Here are the consequences for an Aventura doctor after he failed to diagnose cancer

Being late in diagnosing and treating a patient’s testicular cancer will cost an Aventura doctor time, money and some autonomy despite three decades of experience.

Dr. Mark Christ has been licensed to practice in Florida since Aug. 27, 1993. He’ll be board certified by the American Board of Urology until Feb. 28, 2035. Christ also will be on probation until March 9, 2026, after the state Board of Medicine final order posted Monday detailing the punitive actions against him.

Christ must pay a $7,500 fine and $6,384 in Florida Department of Health investigation reimbursement; complete two five-hour continuing education courses in risk management and testicular cancer; and serve one year of probation during which he has to practice “under the indirect supervision of a board-certified urologist fully licensed...”

“Indirect supervision” means the monitoring urologist doesn’t have to practice in the same place as Christ, but has to be within 20 miles. The monitoring urologist has to review 25% of Christ’s active patient records at least once a quarter and send reports to the Board of Medicine’s Probation Committee on Christ.

According to the state Board of Medicine’s final order, Christ didn’t dispute or respond to the allegations in the Florida Department of Health’s administrative complaint and didn’t show up at the final hearing. He didn’t respond to an email from the Miami Herald seeking comment.

State records say The Doctors Company medical malpractice insurance company paid the patient $250,000. The “principal injury” section reads “Alleged failure to biopsy right testicular mass resulting in delay in diagnosis of testicular cancer.”

Mass problems

The administrative complaint says 42-year-old patient came to Uro-Medix, 2801 NE 213th St., on Oct. 3, 2019, because antibiotics hadn’t proved effective enough in dealing with a mass in the right testicle.

Christ ordered testicular tumor markers and a scrotal ultrasound. Christ considered testicular cancer a possibility and gave the man a handout on the cancer.

The ultrasound, the complaint said, showed a darkened mass in the right testicle, enlarged scrotum veins and a “suspicious” germ cell tumor. But a CAT scan came back negative. Christ recommended an MRI of the right testicle.

The MRI, done on Oct. 29, showed a lesion and an area of small calcium deposits. Christ gave his patient another handout on testicular cancer.

Christ ”did not diagnose ... [the patient] with testicular cancer,” the complaint said, “obtain a biopsy of the mass, perform an orchiectomy (testicular removal) or refer [him] to a urologic oncologist.”

On Nov. 4, 2019, Christ’s assistant wrote a note that the patient’s “chief complaint was testicular cancer and he was to return in one year.”

Christ wound up removing the right testicle on Aug. 28, 2020, and doing a biopsy. The patient was diagnosed with spreading cancer on Sept. 8, 2020, and referred to radiation cancer treatment.

The cancer eventually went into remission after chemotherapy.

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