Kaiser Doctor Is in|Trouble in Maryland

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (CN) — A Kaiser doctor sexually molested a patient and the state medical board suspended his license for doing it to her and to other women, the woman claims in a lawsuit backed up by documents from the medical board.

Linda D. Johnson sued Dr. Bryan S. Williams and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States on June 2 in Prince George's County Court.

The Maryland medical board summarily suspended Williams' medical license on May 18, according to May 26 letter on official letterhead. Williams has appealed the suspension.

On May 27, a disciplinary panel of the Maryland State Board of Physicians filed amended charges against Williams, citing five cases involving seven female patients who claim Williams touched them inappropriately and sexually during examinations or pain treatments, without a legally required female chaperone in the room. The amended charges are signed by the Maryland attorney general.

One of the patients' complaints in the 26-page document mirrors the complaints in Johnson's civil lawsuit. The Board of Physicians will hold a disciplinary conference to resolve the case on July 27. If it is not resolved, it will go to an administrative law judge.

Johnson says she went to see Dr. Williams on June 14, 2013, for a steroid injection for lower back pain. "Prior to the procedure, plaintiff was standing and Dr. Williams was seated behind her," she says in the complaint. "Dr. Williams moved his hands up plaintiffs legs to her vagina, and separated plaintiffs labia and moved his hands up and down along the inside of her vaginal walls while touching her clitoris. Plaintiff asked Dr. Williams what he was doing at which time Dr. Williams advised the plaintiff not to worry, that 'it'll be alright.' A female chaperone was not present at any time during the examination, and Dr. Williams gave no explanation for why he touched plaintiff in this manner."

Johnson says she returned for another steroid shot in January 2014 and Williams repeated the sexual contact — this time while he had an erection.

That was enough for her to report Williams to her primary care physician, she says, who also was a Kaiser employee.

Kaiser then conducted a sham investigation, during which it "interrogated" her, and claimed she made the whole thing up, Johnson says in the complaint.

"Kaiser conducted an investigation in which it questioned plaintiff's veracity and falsely and maliciously accused the plaintiff of manufacturing a story," the complaint states. "At one point, an investigator acting as an apparent agent of Kaiser told plaintiff that scrubs are 'loose fitting' and that it would be 'impossible' for plaintiff to observe that Dr. Williams had an erection."

A Kaiser panel claimed that "any actions of Dr. Williams were part of an acceptable medical examination" and that Johnson was "emotionally upset due to her sister's death," and that her complaint had "nothing to do with the conduct of Dr. Williams," according to the complaint.

Johnson says Kaiser's claims are false and defamatory, and that other women have complained about Williams for similar behavior.

Williams has active medical licenses in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and inactive licenses in California, Illinois and Michigan, according to the Maryland Board of Physicians.

Johnson says: "The conduct and actions of Dr. Williams were purely gratuitous acts that had no conceivable connection to legitimate medical treatment, and were far beyond accepted standards of medical care. "These actions were undertaken by Dr. Williams with actual malice and for his own deviant sexual self-gratification, and were designed to inflict emotional harm upon the plaintiff.

"The actions of Dr. Williams stated herein were not isolated events, but rather constitute a pattern of lascivious and malicious conduct committed by Dr. Williams on the plaintiff and numerous other female patients while Dr. Williams was acting as an agent and employee of Kaiser."

Johnson seeks punitive damages for battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring, supervision and retention, and defamation.

She is represented by David Martin and Emmanuel Fishelman with Meyers Rodbell & Rosenbaum, in Riverdale Park, Md.

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