WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Department of Veteran Affairs hospital in Wichita has begun the process required to remove a doctor who is under scrutiny for allegedly harming patients in Missouri while performing robot-assisted surgeries that were beyond his capabilities.

The VA hospital said it has proposed that Christel O. Wambi-Kiesse be removed from the hospital but declined to give a reason

After the proposal for removal is made, the employee has seven business days to respond. The VA then must make a final removal decision no later than 15 business days from the date the proposed removal was delivered to the employee.

The hospital began investigating the 44-year-old urologist after The Kansas City Star reported that Missouri’s Board of Registration for the Healing Arts was seeking to discipline Wambi-Kiesse.

The board cited three examples, all during 2013, while he was working for a now-defunct urology clinic associated with Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence. One woman died from an infection two months after Wambi-Kiesse punctured her bladder while performing a biopsy and failed to repair the damage, according to the complaint.

In the two other cases, men aged 71 and 68, suffered complications after prostate surgeries that took three times longer than they should have, the board said.

The Star reported Wambi-Kiesse declined to comment Monday.

Wambi-Kiesse’s medical license is up for renewal at the end of January.

The disciplinary complaint that could strip him of his license is pending and no hearing date has been set.

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This story was first published on December 30, 2019. It was updated on December 31, 2019 to make clear that the Veterans Affairs hospital in Wichita has started the process of removing a doctor under scrutiny for allegedly injuring patients in Missouri but the doctor has not yet been fired.