Patient who shot doctor had complained of care

By Mary Manning

Published Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009 | 12:20 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009 | 5:15 p.m.

UPDATED STORY: Family, patients mourn slain doctor

The 80-year-old man who shot a Las Vegas internal medicine doctor to death Monday had filed a complaint against nine local physicians with the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners, its executive director said Tuesday.

The gunman, Eliseo Santos of Las Vegas, filed the complaint Jan. 2 and medical examiners board investigators were deciding how to proceed when the shooting death occurred, Executive Director Louis Ling said.

Dr. Edna Almaden Makabenta, 49, was shot to death in her office at 2215 W. Charleston Blvd. at about 9:26 a.m. Monday. Santos then turned the .45-caliber gun on himself.

"The timing couldn't be worse," Ling said in a phone interview from his Reno office Tuesday. The board is closing the complaint, he said, in light of the deaths of the doctor and patient.

Makabenta was not one of the most discussed physicians in the complaint, Ling said.

The board has turned over records to Metro Police investigators.

"There is nothing in the complaint that showed Santos was angry or hostile," Ling said, adding that there was no indication Santos was planning any violent act.

Santos also was a patient at the West Charleston Pain Center next door at 2525 W. Charleston Blvd. Henfel Baria, whose wife saw Santos as a patient for about eight years, said he went to Makabenta's clinic when an assistant called for help after the shooting. Baria said he saw Makabenta lying in the exam room.

A Clark County Medical Society spokesperson on Tuesday said its members had not expressed alarm after the shooting, although they did call the society's office to inquire about Makabenta.

Authorities are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting. A study published last year indicates chronic pain and distrust of doctors are primary reasons why a patient would want to cause harm.

A study released in May 2008 by David Fishbain and colleagues at the University of Miami revealed that one in 20 patients in physical rehabilitation admitted they felt like killing their doctors.

The study, presented at the American Pain Society's annual meeting last year in Tampa, Fla., surveyed 800 patients and discovered a greater link between pain and disability care cases and the urge to kill, compared to other types of medical cases.

Another Las Vegas doctor was shot by a patient in 2006, although he survived.

On July 24, 2006, a 74-year-old patient opened fire on Dr. Avi Ostrowsky, 55, shooting him in the shoulders and grazing his neck. The patient then took his own life in an examination room of the Mountainview Medical Center as other patients and medical personnel were nearby.

The patient had been coming to him for eight years, complaining of back pain. Ostrowsky is a diabetes specialist and still practices in Las Vegas today.

The patient had concealed a gun and police found a suicide note in his pocket. Ostrowsky still has two bullets lodged in his head and another bullet passed through him, bouncing down the hall.