US Dentist Convicted of Heinous Crime Licensed By Belize Medical Council

John Roberts Hall

How did a dentist from the U.S. charged and convicted for gross criminal abuse of office get a license from the Belize Medical Council to open a clinic and practice in Belize? That’s one critical question. Another is how did John Roberts Hall, that North Carolina dentist who pleaded guilty to injecting semen into the mouth of seven of his patients get approved by the Belize Medical Council under a false name – Robert Bob Hall. Tonight, those answers aren’t forthcoming because nobody on the council is talking, but the entire scenario is disturbing and bizarre. To backtrack, the seven-member Belize Medical Council is wholly and solely responsible for due diligence conducted on all medical personnel who need a license to practice in Belize. Yet Hall, under a completely fabricated name, was able to obtain a license to practice in San Pedro at the Oceanside Dental Clinic which was to be opened on Monday. The alarm was raised at the Ministry of Health level by our colleagues at the San Pedro Sun last week, but sources tell us that it was not until the San Pedro Police got involved that the clinic was closed down Monday morning. Chairman of the Council George Gough did not answer our calls or return our text today, and Chief Dental Surgeon Rafael Samos declined comment. We did get a comment via phone from Director of Health Services Marvin Manzanero. He says when the alarm was raised they acted immediately to commence an investigation.  

Marvin Manzanero

On the Phone: Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services

“It is a concern in terms the quality of services that we will be able to give to patients…you always try to seek the patients’ welfare and protection of patients. As I understand it from the note we saw from the Medical Council…I believe the last note in terms of the legality of things as far as we could track back after we started to do the investigation was 2004. As we understand it he had been practicing in Costa Rica prior to him getting here, so I believe that is his immediate history that was checked before he was granted the license. As I understand it also the medical license granted to him was a conditional one that he was to work at a particular facility under a particular doctor. I don’t have all the details of that but I must tell you that we don’t take any of these details lightly. As I mentioned to you as soon as we were alerted we did notify the Belize Medical Council and an investigation was launched. Chief Dental Surgeon Dr. Samos was part of that investigation that started as soon as we got that email.”

Mike Rudon

“Sir are you further concerned about the level of due diligence conducted by the Belize Medical Council because his conviction for that act could have been found on Google with very minimal effort.”

On the Phone: Dr. Marvin Manzanero

“Well I would not be able to comment on the investigation or what was done in order for him to be granted that license. As I can take from the minutes of the meeting the Ministry’s representative wasn’t at the previous meeting. I was present at the meeting this last Thursday and as I said we do try as far as foreigners seeking to get a license to go through the due process of doing investigations but sometimes those may not necessarily come up as the process may be.”