Retired general surgeon Lars Aanning, MD — noted for his role in bringing down Allen Sossan, MD, whose botched surgeries led to patient paralysis and death — surrendered his medical license, according to a report from The Argus Leader.
Here are five things to know:
1. The South Dakota Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners was scheduled to hold a hearing to revoke Dr. Aanning's medical license on Oct. 27 based on his admission to lying under oath more than 20 years ago. In 2016, Dr. Aanning wrote a column in The Yankton County Observer, later published in ProPublica, confessing he lied under oath to protect his partner and explaining why he did it.
2. Since retiring from medical practice and penning his op-ed, Dr. Aanning has devoted his time to patient advocacy. He told ProPublica he wanted to tell the truth about his own lie to expose flaws in the court system. "It seems that the courtroom is not the arena for adjudication of medical right or wrong. I shared my story to give an explicit example of why you can't always rely on physician testimony in court."
3. While the statute of limitations on the lie has expired, the board said Dr. Aanning committed "moral turpitude"; however, The Argus Leader reports Dr. Aanning believes the board "is pursuing his license because of his role in exposing shoddy medicine." Dr. Aanning reported Dr. Sossan, who eventually racked up several malpractice suits against him due to botched surgeries. Dr. Sossan has since fled the country.
4. Dr. Aanning decided to surrender his license instead of attending the hearing to potentially have his license revoked.
5. The board has not decided whether to accept Dr. Aanning's surrendered license.