Texas Medical Board dismisses complaints without peer discussion. I followed my medical board complaint through the appeals process and the Texas Medical Board don’t really look at every complaint.
According to the “Texas Medical Board – Minutes of the Disciplinary Process Review Committee” there was no discussion of my complaint at all.
Texas Medical Board Disciplinary Committee
This information is specific to disciplinary committee attendees for the March 26, 2026 meeting. The “Closed Session” meeting where board members are supposed to make disciplinary decisions.
The Following Representavies Of Texas Medical Board Were Marked As Present
- Manuel Quinones, Jr. M.D. = Family physician appointed to Medical Board by Governor Abbott. His term will expire 4/13/29. Dr. Quinones has been a doctor for more than 42 years.
- Sharon Barnes = Mrs Barnes is a “public member” meaning that she isn’t a medical professional by trade. Her current career is that she is the “Cheif Human Resouce Officer” of the San Jose Clinic in Houston. Mrs Barnes was appointed to the Medical Board by Governor Abbott at the same time with Dr. Guinones with the term ending 4/13/29.
- Devinder S. Bhatia, M.D.= Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon from the Houston area. His creditials look very good because they say he is the founder and CEO of Southeast Texas Cardiovascular P.A. This business he is the CEO of has a 3.6 star rating. OMG!! I also see that he is not only a Medical Board Member – TMB has actually taken against him in 2021. I’ll do an article on this later. Governor Abbott appointed Dr. Bhatia to the Medical Board in 2025 for a term that will expire 4/13/2031.
- James S. Distefano, D.O = Sports and Emergency Medicine doctor from College Station. His creditials say that he is a doctor out of Cornerstone Sports Medicine. Governor Abbott appointed Dr. Distefano to the Medical Board in 2020 and his term expired 4/13/25. Then Governor Abbott reappointed Dr. Distefano for another term that will end 4/13/31.
- Kelly Green, M.D. = Ophthalmologist from Marble Falls. Dr. Green was part of the group that was appointed by Governor Abbott. Her Medical Board term expires on 4/13/31. Dr. Green’s office has a 3.9 Google Rating.
- Zach Jones, M.D. = Anesthesiologist from Frisco. Dr. Jones was part of the group appointed by Governor Abbott that will be in office till 4/13/29. Dr. Jones works with Metropolitan Anesthesia Consultants.
- LuAnn Morgan = Mrs Morgan is a “Public Member” since she isn’t a medical professional. Mrs Morgan’s profession is dealing with electric companies. Her profile says she began her career with TXU Electric.
- Jason K. Tibbles, M.D. = Clinical, Hospice, and Telemedicine is what it says on his Bio. Chief Medical Officer at Lantern specialty platform. Dr. Tibbles was part of the group that Governor Abbott appointed for a term lasting till 4/13/31.
- Linda Troncoso = Mrs. Troncoso is a “Public Member” because she isn’t a medical professional. She is president of the engineering firm TRE and Associates, LLC. This engineering firm has a 3.7 Google review.
- Sherif Z. Zaafran, M.D. = Anesthesiologist that was appointed to the Texas Medical Board with a term set to expire on 4/13/27. I have watched some of the published TMB meetings and I got to say that Dr. Zaafran isnt a very pleasant man. I seen him online being dismissive and just rude when Dr. Naidu asked legitimate questions during a board meeting. Makes me think that this man keeps the other board members compliant. Unbelievably Dr. Zaafran has the only 5 star average rating Everyone loves the anesthesiologist. Its an easy 5 stars.
- Stephen Brint Carlton = Mr. Carlton is state employee, so he is not a board member at all. His official state job title is “Exsecutive Director of Texas State Board Of Acupuncture Examiners” is how its listed on the State of Texas Directory. I really don’t know what he does at a Texas Medical Board meeting. I know that my complaint to the TMB didn’t have anything to do with Acupuncture, so maybe he was there for someone elses complaint.
- Chris Palazola = I found our states licenced attorney, Mr. Palazola was present in the Texas Medical Board Disciplinary Process Review Commitee. He is a Texas Bar certified attorney #24060379 and he represents the Texas Medical Board. AND OF COURSE HE IS ALSO THE DIRECTOR OF OPPERTIONS So technically Mr. Palazola is a state attorney since the Texas Medical Board is a state agency I don’t know why the Texas Medical Board would need to have an attorney present during a disciplinary meeting. I also don’t understand why an attorney for the state would need to be director of operations for the Texas Medical Board. I’ll be back to the state attorney later.
- The minutes say that there were verious other staff members present also, but these listed are the only mentioned by name.
Responsibilies Of The Texas Medical Board
- Licensure
- Enforcement & Discipline
- Regulation & Rulemaking
- Public Information
- Mandatory Reporting
There were a total of 118 complaints with the appeals portion including mine. Of those 118 appeal request 6 complaint appeals were actually voted on. Then of those 6 chosen complaints 1 was referred to Washington Medical Board and another was dismissed.
So out of 118 appeal request the Medical Board only took action on 4 appeal request. Just for the sake of putting a number on Medical Board outcomes – The Texas Medical Board routinely dismisses 96.61% of appeals without discussion.
How Texas Medical Board Handles Appeal Request
For the specific March 26, 2026 meeting – Mrs LuAnn Morgan suggested to dismiss all appeal request with exception to 6 chosen appeals then Mrs. Sharon J. Barnes second Mrs. Morgan’s suggestion. So with this simple 2 person vote – 112 appeal request were DISMISSED.
I did look at other issues in this meeting and this kind of complaint handling appears to be routine for the Texas Medical Board.
Texas Open Meetings Act Violations By Texas Medical Board
So the Texas Open Meetings Act makes it ILLEGAL for state agencies such as the Texas Medical Board to hold private closed sessions. All state meetings are legally required to be recorded in some form. There are very limited exceptions to the Texas Open Meetings Act.
So the Texas Medical Board claims that they are NOT required to record the closed sessions. THATS A BIG LIE.
The Texas Medical Board is illegally holding disciplinary review meetings behind closed doors. General counsel advising the Texas Medical Board are not able to claim exceptions to the Texas Open Meetings Act. This very small exception to the Texas Open Meetings Act would only be valid if a State of Texas Bar Association licenced attorney was providing legal services directly to the Medical Board – then the meeting can go private while the TMB consults with their attorney.
So all of those disciplinary review meetings dismissing hundreds or thousands of Texas Medical Board complaints – all done illegally.
I really don’t know how The Texas Medical Board can function as state regulators if they don’t even know Texas Law. Their state bar licenced attorney Mr. Palazola should have advised the Texas Medical Board on the Texas Open Meeting Act.