Man Charged With Assault on Doctor

A Canoga Park man has been charged with breaking an emergency room doctor’s jaw because the doctor gave the man’s girlfriend a rectal exam, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Monday.

Michael Tipton, 24, pleaded not guilty to charges of battery with serious bodily injury and assault with great bodily injury, Deputy Dist. Atty. Herbert Lapin said.

The altercation with Dr. Edward Spitz occurred after Tipton and his 19-year-old girlfriend, who was complaining of abdominal pains, arrived at Humana Hospital-West Hills early the morning of Aug. 26, Los Angeles Police Sgt. John Schiffner said.

Spitz, 44, performed a pelvic and rectal examination on the woman, Lapin said. A female nurse was present at all times during the examination, which is a normal procedure when trying to determine the cause of abdominal pain, Lapin said.

After the checkup, an emergency room nurse told authorities, she heard yelling coming from the woman’s treatment room. Tipton apparently had wandered into the treatment area and become upset after learning the details of the exam, Lapin said.

The nurse told Tipton to leave. As Tipton walked to the waiting room, he yelled something to the doctor about the exam and said, “I’ll get you,” the nurse told authorities.

Tipton then walked toward a cubicle where Spitz was treating another patient and hit the doctor, Lapin said.

Spitz, who fell to the floor, sustained a concussion and later underwent surgery for a broken jaw, Schiffner said. Paramedics detained Tipton, who was taken into police custody.

Tipton was being held Monday on $25,000 bail at County Jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 8 on the charges. Each carries a maximum penalty of four years in state prison.