The Pennsylvania Board of Medicine has renewed Dr. Anthony Mauriello's license to practice.

The Lancaster orthopedist has been sued 26 times for medical malpractice and no longer has operating privileges at any hospital, but the state early this month renewed his license through the end of 2010.

Leslie Amoros, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees board licensing, had no further comment, except to reiterate that Mauriello's license is "in good standing."

Mauriello currently is on "indefinite administrative medical leave" from his practice with Dr. Robert S. Mathews, another orthopedic surgeon, at Penn Orthopedics of Lancaster Ltd., 554 N. Duke St.

Mauriello said this morning that he will be on medical leave for "several weeks or several months" but will return to the practice.

Mauriello, 43, is a former president of the Lancaster City and County Medical Society.

Of the 26 medical malpractice claims filed against him since 2002, four have been settled by payments to patients who sued the doctor following operations on their knees or hips.

Another 10 of the 26 cases have been discontinued by the plaintiffs or dismissed by the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas.

The other 12 cases are moving forward. No case has gone to trial.

No other Lancaster physician has been sued more than three times since 2002.

Many of the cases had been filed against Mauriello; Physicians Alliance Ltd., which formerly employed the doctor; and Lancaster Regional Medical Center or Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center, at which Mauriello performed surgery.

The doctor has not worked for PAL for about two years and performed his last hospital surgeries this past summer.

Mauriello was first licensed to practice in Pennsylvania in 1999. His two-year license, set to expire on Dec. 31, was renewed on Dec. 5.

Among questions Mauriello had to answer on his license renewal application were whether he had lost hospital privileges or been sued for malpractice since his last renewal. He has been sued nine times in the past two years.

Pennsylvania's Board of Medicine has been criticized for having one of the poorest records in the country when it comes to disciplining physicians.

It placed 38th among the states in a 2007 Public Citizen ranking of serious doctor disciplinary actions, including revocation of licenses, by medical boards.

Public Citizen is a national non-profit public interest group.

Public Citizen also criticized the number of disciplinary actions filed against physicians nationwide, noting that the rate of such actions fell 22 percent from 2004 to 2007.


Staff writer Jack Brubaker can be reached at jbrubaker@LNPnews.com or 291-8781.