Medical board disciplines Arndt

The openly gay Boston surgeon who recently had his medical license suspended because he left a patient on an operating table while he went to run an errand has been disciplined by the state medical board in connection with another matter.

The board voted Wednesday to reprimand David C. Arndt and ordered him to complete 100 hours of community service in connection with a conviction on a charge of filing a false affidavit to help his former partner stay illegally in the country. Arndt, who was charged in U.S. district court in Louisiana, pleaded guilty to the charge in 1998 and was sentenced to three years' probation and fined $3,000.

On August 7 the Massachusetts board of medicine suspended Arndt for leaving the operating room July 10 while performing spinal fusion surgery to run a check to the bank. The patient, Charles Algeri, 45, of Waltham, was under anesthesia at the time, and an incision in his back had been made.

Arndt, 41, a 1992 graduate of Harvard Medical School, has said he regrets his actions but that he was in "a financial crisis" and had to pay overdue bills.