Citing ‘Erratic, Delusional’ Behavior, State Pulls Somerset Doctor’s Medical License

Dr. Sharon Worosilo. Photo: NJ Pain Management Inst.

A pain management doctor with offices in Somerset and East Brunswick was ordered by the state to stop practicing medicine because her behavior poses a “clear and imminent danger to the public health, safety and welfare,” according to the state Board of Medical Examiners.

Dr. Sharon Colleen Worosilo, who owns the New Jersey Pain Management Institute on Veronica Avenue, was ordered to immediately surrender her license and stop practicing medicine following a Nov. 8 hearing before the board.

The order came about two weeks after Worosilo’s alleged erratic behavior was reported to state officials, according to a complaint against her filed by the state Attorney General’s office.

An investigation revealed a number of incidents authorities said evidenced that Worosilo “has engaged in a pattern of bizarre and inappropriate behaviors, all of which demonstrate that her judgment – medical and otherwise – is severely impaired, to the point that she is incapable of discharging the functions of a physician in a manner consistent with the public’s health, safety and welfare,” according to the medical examiners board’s order.

“The evidence before us, at this juncture of the proceedings, provides a compelling predicate for a finding that Dr. Worosilo has exhibited manifestly impaired judgment, that she presently lacks the capacity to engage in any medical practice and that she clearly presents an imminent danger to her colleagues, co-workers and patients alike,” the board wrote. “Simply put, the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that Dr. Worosilo has engaged in a pattern of aberrant and bizarre behaviors, starting in or about June 2017, all of which strongly support a finding that she presently is suffering from impairment, which may be related to substance abuse, psychiatric illness and/or an undiagnosed and untreated medical illness.”

Incidents contained in the OAG complaint and the Board of Medical Examiners’ order include:

• Worosilo and her partner had an Oct. 1 phone conversation in which Worosilo allegedly said that she had a “nervous breakdown” because she didn’t “want to be the richest woman in the world,” and saying that she had paintings “worth a billion dollars.”
• On Oct. 8, Worosilo chartered a jet and flew to Chicago to see her partner run a marathon. She wanted the partner to return to New Jersey with her, but the employee declined.
• On Oct. 16, when interviewing a new patient, Worosilo allegedly called the person a “drug addict” and told the person to “get the (expletive) out of my office.”
• On Oct. 17, at Worosilo’s East Brunswick office, a doctor who was performing a surgical procedure noticed that she had “a very odd affect and was joking with his patients,” according to the OAG complaint. Worosilo allegedly approached the patient with a battery and said the doctor could place it in the patient “where the sun don’t shine.”
• Later that day, Worosilo allegedly entered the East Brunswick office playing “vulgar music” and dancing, and refused to turn it down when asked to do so.
• Worosilo decided on Oct. 17 that a patient of her partner’s – upon whom a knee procedure had just been performed – needed an injection in their back, to which the partner objected. Worosilo allegedly played loud music during the time she attempted the injection, danced, asked the patient why he did not know the lyrics and called him “brotha.” Worosilo tried for 40 minutes to administer the injection, asking an X-ray technician what she should do.
• Worosilo once said that she was waiting for a phone call from former President Obama so that they could “take down Trump,” according to the complaint.

Worosilo first came to the state board’s attention on Oct. 23, when, according to the Attorney General’s complaint, she called the OAG to report that her partner was running a drug ring out of their office.

Three days later, the state Division of Law was notified by the state Professional Assistance Program of New Jersey that the program had received “numerous calls alleging that (she) was displaying erratic behavior and smelled of alcohol while practicing.”

On Oct. 19 and Oct. 23, Worosilo was told by the PAP that she should schedule an appointment with PAP by Oct. 26, according to the complaint. No appointment was made, prompting PAP to notify the medical board of its concerns.

Two investigators from the examiners board met with Worosilo on Oct. 27, according to the complaint, and reported that she was “disorganized in her thinking and difficult to redirect to answering the questions asked by the investigators. Respondent exhibited episodes where she paused mid-sentence and stared blankly with a flat affect. Once the interview began, Respondent apologized for the wall color of the room and also decided she wanted to use different chairs and had someone come into the room to replace the existing chairs.”

When asked about the drug ring she had initially reported, Worosilo “vacillated between topics including: how her partner was supposed to take over the practice (while muttering an expletive about her); speaking about haircuts; a cancelled trip to Italy; how she was starting another business; how she had offered to buy everyone a house; and terminating her staff who were part of the “drug ring”, including her partner … whom she referred to as ‘Junior.'”

Worosilo met with the PAP on Oct. 31, but refused to sign a voluntary consent order to surrender her license.

“Taken in the aggregate, the evidence before the Board compellingly supports findings not only that Dr. Worosilo’s conduct has placed her co-workers and colleagues at risk, but also that any continued practice of medicine would present grave and severe risks to any patient that she might treat,” the examiner’s board order states. “Based thereon, we unanimously conclude that no action short of a full and immediate temporary suspension of license would suffice to address the clear and imminent danger that Dr. Worosilo’s continued practice would pose to the public health, safety and welfare.”

“Dr. Worosilo’s behavior was so troubling that we had to act quickly to safeguard patients and staff who interact with her,” Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said in a press release about the decision. “The Board’s decision to suspend her license immediately was necessary to protect those who might have been harmed by her conduct.”

“The Board appropriately recognized that the nature of conduct alleged could have placed Dr. Worosilo’s patients at risk,” Sharon M. Joyce, Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs, said in the release. “The Board’s swift action to remove her from practice was the right thing to do.”

Worosilo may seek to have the terms of the suspension modified, but as a precondition to any such motion, she must fully participate with PAP, including submitting to evaluations for possible impairments and medical issues, according to the release. She can petition the Board seeking a return to practice only after the required evaluations.

Your Thoughts

comments