Court Orders Newport Clinic to Close : Medicine: State authorities say the operator practices without a license, using a physician to front for him.

SANTA ANA —  State prosecutors won a court order Wednesday temporarily shutting down a Newport Beach orthopedic clinic after claiming its chief operator was practicing medicine without a license by using a licensed physician to front for him.

But the Institute of Orthopaedic Medicine at 1501 Superior Ave., whose two operators already face criminal charges of fraudulent and illegal practices, had already come to a halt before the order was signed.

Office workers said Wednesday that Dr. Louis Schlom, who is 70 today, retired over the weekend. Milne J. Ongley, the clinic’s principal operator and the primary target of the California Medical Board, has not been working with Schlom gone.

Isabelle Archibald, a spokeswoman for the office, described Ongley as “assistant to Dr. Schlom” and said that Ongley would not be operating the clinic until he found a new doctor “to be assistant to.”

The California Medical Board and the state attorney general’s office claim that Ongley has been practicing medicine without a license at the Newport Beach clinic--and did so in San Diego up to last December--by working with a licensed physician.

A state medical investigator, working undercover, reported that when he was examined at the clinic, Ongley was in charge and Schlom simply wrote down what Ongley told him.

Ongley has specialized in injecting patients with a formula he calls the “Ongley Solution,” which he has claimed will help people with lower back disorders and other muscle problems.

“The people who manufacture the product have assured us that it was never intended to be injected into anyone,” Deputy Atty. Gen. Thomas S. Lazar said. “At most it was to be rubbed on the skin. One long-shot possibility was that it might be used as a mouthwash.”

Lazar brought a bottle of the solution to court Wednesday to show the judge.

The restraining order was signed by Superior Court Judge Richard O. Frazee Sr., who set an April 14 hearing date on a permanent injunction. Lawyers for the two operators failed to appear for the hearing on the restraining order.

Ongley, 65, apparently has specialized for years in working with Olympic hopefuls. But two of the better known Olympic names--high jumper Dwight Stones and runner Innocent I. Egbunike--have complained that Ongley’s treatment resulted in health problems that all but ended their careers.

Stones has filed a civil lawsuit against Ongley, claiming that Ongley misrepresented himself as a doctor and provided treatment that seriously damaged Stones’ hamstring. That treatment included a series of injections of Ongley Solution.

Egbunike, a bronze medalist relay runner and three-time Olympic participant, filed a declaration included in the court file against Ongley.

He claimed that a track coach at UCLA recommended “Dr. Ongley” to him after he experienced pain in his left knee. Egbunike said in his declaration that Ongley injected him with the “Ongley Solution” and that the result was that his knee swelled to double its size.

“I could not stand on my knees for more than 10 minutes,” Egbunike stated.

Ongley is described as a native of New Zealand, where he lost his medical license after a host of complaints. Lazar said Ongley left New Zealand with a bench warrant outstanding against him. He operated a clinic in San Diego County in the 1970s and set up a business in San Francisco in the early 1980s.

Archibald, the spokeswoman for the clinic, said Schlom lived in Colorado but always flew to Orange County on Wednesdays and then returned to Colorado on Saturdays. He would also fly to San Diego on Tuesdays and work with Ongley there when that clinic was open, she said.

Archibald, who said she runs the front office, said she has worked for the two men for two years, and would never have remained there if she had thought anything illegal was going on.

“M.J. (Ongley) has never tried to pretend he was a doctor,” she said. “Although some of the people who come in here do call him Dr. Ongley.”

Ongley’s troubles began last year when a doctor working in the Newport Beach clinic, Alison A. Lovell, complained to state medical authorities about his operation. Prosecutor Lazar said one patient had also complained.

Lovell stated in court papers that she worked for Ongley for more than eight months before resigning in August, 1989. According to Lovell, Ongley told her that he was a former doctor and could perform certain duties with patients as long as he was teaching a physician--a reference to his teaching her while she worked at the clinic.

“During my employment, Mr. Ongley independently examined, diagnosed and decided on the course of treatment for each patient,” she wrote to state medical investigators in a declaration included in court papers.

She said he treated about 35 patients a day in Newport Beach and about 10 a day in San Diego.