The hearing was held virtually on Thursday, February 25, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In the video which has now gone viral, Dr Scott Green was seen dressed in surgical scrubs while appearing for the court hearing with his camera briefly revealing a person on an operating table.

As the hearing was about to kick off, Gary Link, a Sacramento superior court commissioner, said: “Unless I’m mistaken, I’m seeing a defendant that’s in the middle of an operating room appearing to be actively engaged in providing services to a patient,” Link said. “Is that correct, Mr. Green? Or should I say, Dr Green?” Green confirmed that it was.

Link continued, “I do not feel comfortable for the welfare of a patient if you’re in the process of operating that I would put on a trial notwithstanding the fact the officer is here today.” 

Green then explained that there was another surgeon in the room who could perform the surgery.

But Link disagreed. “I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s appropriate,” he said, adding that he would reschedule the trial for a time when Dr. Green was not operating on a patient. 

“We want to keep people healthy, we want to keep them alive. That’s important,” Link said. He then set  for Thursday, March 4,  as a new trial date.

Carlos Villatoro, a spokesperson for the Medical Board of California, says the board is aware of the hearing and “will be looking into it, as it does with all complaints it receives.” The board, he says, “expects physicians to follow the standard of care when treating their patients.”