Lawsuit Accuses Long Island Man Of Practicing Medicine Without License

ROOSEVELT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A cancer patient has brought a lawsuit against a Nassau University Medical Center employee, accusing him of running an illegal medical practice on Long Island.

John Mitchner has a license from New York State to work as a physician's assistant; however, a lawsuit accuses him of practicing medicine for decades as a doctor, 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reports.

Nevely Plummer said he believed Mitchner was a doctor and had been seeing him at a Roosevelt clinic affiliated with the  hospital since 2003.

Plummer said he would get blood tests regularly to determine if he had prostate cancer.

"He told me my blood was OK and that the blood tells all," Plummer said. "I now learned that the blood does not tell if you have prostate cancer. They have to do a rare exam, which he did not do."

After being examined by doctors at Sloan Kettering, Plummer was told he has had prostate cancer for at least 10 years and it has now spread to his bones.

"I'm suffering very bad," Plummer said. "I don't know how long I will live through this."

Gwendolyn Plummer said Mitchner gave her husband a death sentence.

"When my husband asked him, 'do you do the rectal exam?' He told him, no, the blood tells all. If he was to say I can't do the rectal exam because I'm a physician's assistant, then we would have found a doctor," she told CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan on Tuesday.

Mitchner has been a beloved and respected medical man in the Plummers'  struggling Roosevelt community, but now they have discovered Mitchner wasn't a doctor at all, and didn't get his medical degree from Stony Brook.

"John E. Mitchner has been calling himself a doctor, practicing medicine in the state of New York since 1995 and he has committed medical malpractice on my client," attorney Bonita Zelman said.

Despite websites and advertisements, Mitchner is a licensed physician's assistant. In order to practice medicine in New York, Mitchner must be supervised at all times by an MD.

McLogan tried to get Mitchner's take on the allegations, but his own attorney ran from CBS 2's cameras. McLogan paid a visit to his new clinic, but police were called to have her removed.

When asked if was acknowledging any wrongdoing, Nassau University Medical Center attorney John Ciotti said, "No, at this point we are investigating as well. This is all new to us."

Nevely Plummer will now have all his medical records forwarded to Sloan Kettering. The county and state said they have launched investigations into whether Mitchner was practicing medicine without a license.

Mitchner has no prior offenses. The NUMC group said Tuesday's allegations predate Mitchner's employment with them and that he works for them only as a physician's assistant.

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