A plastic surgeon hired by the District’s juvenile justice agency earned $330,000 over the past two years to not work, placed on administrative leave because officials determined he did not have the credentials to provide medical services to the agency’s jailed youth.
That doctor, along with two others, has now been laid off as part of a Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services reorganization designed to cut $400,000 from the agency’s spending, city officials told The Washington Examiner.
The agency has replaced the three doctors with Dr. Samia Altaf, a prominent physician with experience treating youth and researching juvenile care in developing countries. Altaf took over the care of as many as 150 youth spread over two city juvenile detention centers on Oct. 25, according to an internal agency memo obtained by The Examiner. The three doctors were laid off on Oct. 23.
Doctors Council labor representative Vanessa Dixon said the new medical model could harm public safety.
“In many cases, the kids end up in [DYRS] as a result of the illnesses they have,” she said. “We can’t afford to scale back further or we will endanger the public.”
In that light, the nonworking plastic surgeon being paid almost as much as the agency now hopes to save by restructuring “is the height of being ridiculous,” Dixon said.
Dixon provided the plastic surgeon’s salary to The Examiner. DYRS spokesman Reggie Sanders said he could not comment on personnel issues.
An outside consultant hired to advise the agency on its medical program told DYRS officials there was an “excess in physician coverage” for the city’s jailed youth, particularly when compared with the number of doctors working in other jurisdictions, the internal memo said. Sanders said the consultant told DYRS officials that the agency “would be better served and be more efficient by utilizing one supervisory medical officer.”
The decision to hire the consultant and reorganize the DYRS medical care team was the result of the D.C. Council pushing city agencies to find cost cuts last spring.
Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells, whose committee oversees DRYS, said he agreed with the consultant’s conclusions and the new model.
“As long as we don’t jeopardize public safety, we have to find ways to make very difficult cuts,” Wells said. Given the city’s tough financial situation, “we’ll have to make more tough decisions soon.”
