Top Central Jersey Surgeon Snorted Coke, Botched Breast Surgery: Patient

He was a highly recommended doctor who was the first one patients thought of when they needed help.

Indeed, Vijay Vaswani received glowing reviews from patients as recently as this month, including one who said, “Dr. Vaswani exemplifies all that is good in a surgeon--compassionate, thorough, highly skilled, and most of all, empathetic and caring.”

That’s why it wasn’t a hard decision for Shawn Travers when her breast cancer resurfaced in 2014, and when she needed a mastectomy. She told The Trentonian that Vaswani, in 2002, had successfully performed a lumpectomy to remove a lump on her breast.

But a month after the surgery was performed in December 2014 at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, the Trenton resident began experiencing discomfort and swelling. She told the Trentonian that the surgeon - who recently lost his license because of cocaine use - thought Travers would just be sent for reconstructive surgery, so she wouldn’t need the fluids drained.

“What had happened is that fluid began to fill up in those breasts and it began to harden,” Travers told the publication. “As it began to fill up, I felt the pain, the redness, the burning.”

What happened was captured in a graphic image that can be found here, on The Trentonian’s website, of what appears to be the after-effects absolute mishap. The image is graphic, so viewer discretion is advised.

Vaswani, meanwhile, has admitted to using cocaine, suffering a relapse after dealing with drug problems for more than a decade.

Vaswani has lost his state medical license after admitting to use of cocaine last month, according to an order issued by the State Board of Medical Examiners.

The doctor also said he obtained cocaine by writing prescriptions to three people who were not his patients.

Vaswani, a vice president of the medical staff for general and breast surgery at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, lost his license indefinitely, the order states.

Vaswani, who signed the order on Dec. 23, admitted using cocaine on or about Dec. 17 and Dec. 18.

Vaswani had a long drug use history, according to the order.

He admitted using cocaine and marijuana in college when he applied for his New Jersey medical license in 2001. While still in residency, the order states, Vaswani had undergone treatment for the abuse of Versed.

In 2006, Vaswani took Xanax and was involved in a motor-vehicle accident, and was charged with driving under the influence.

In December, Vaswani admitted to writing the Percocet prescriptions and using cocaine.

In 2014, after the after-effects of her surgery worsened, Travers told The Trentonian that she visited her oncologist, a cancer doctor. The oncologist said: ”You do need chemotherapy and he had no business leaving you like that ... Why would he leave that fluid in there, for what? There was no medical reason, it was beyond them.”

The hospital replied to The Trentionian with this statement, “We are unable to confirm that Ms. Travers was a patient here, but to date we have not received any communication from her.”