Arizona Medical Board reviews handling of sexual misconduct claims after Republic report

The Arizona Medical Board conceded a need for improvement following an Arizona Republic investigation that exposed the board’s shortcomings in its handling of doctor sexual misconduct claims.

Yet at a Jan. 3 meeting where a board staff member presented options for change, the board also decided to leave in place doctors accused of sexual misconduct and violence.

The board is a group of 12 appointed members, eight of which by law must be fellow doctors. They’re supposed to protect the public. The board’s director, Pat McSorley, declined to comment on the board’s decisions, but noted that they deliberate publicly and their decisions are based on the totality of their investigative file, which goes beyond what is publicly available.

"I have great respect for every physician on the board,” member Dr. Bruce Bethancourt told The Republic. “I think they're highly professional. And we are there to protect the public but also to protect the reputation of our profession. An unprofessional physician puts a crack in the foundation of our public trust."

The Republic’s investigation showed the board has over time ordered seven doctors to see women in the company of another trained professional, called a “chaperone.”

That included Dr. Charles Kelly, whose licensing file shows he faced accusations in 2020 from three patients, one for “inappropriate performance of an examination,” one for “inappropriate contact during the course of an examination,” and one for “inappropriate conduct during the course of a colonoscopy.”

The board kept him in reach of patients after 2020 complaints, and at its meeting, they described four additional cases against Kelly from 2022.

Three cases stemmed from board staff finding deficiencies in Kelly’s “chaperone attendance” and documentation of the chaperone, a staff member told the board.

In the fourth, a patient claimed Kelly failed to diagnose gallstones and at three appointments inappropriately performed breast exams.

The board is bound by law to report crimes to local law enforcement. Kingman Police Sgt. Jason Huerta said the department’s last contact with Kelly was in 2021 for a lost property complaint.

At the meeting, Kelly denied the medical board’s claims.

“I am innocent of any misconduct and I've been on probation for three years,” Kelly told the board. “My compliance has been 100%.”

This time, the board took a tougher stance, deciding that Kelly can’t practice medicine until a formal hearing.

A couple other doctors got off with lesser restrictions, at least for now.

Where there's smoke there's fire?

The board considered Dr. Marco Saucedo, whose attorney said he was the only permanent OB-GYN in Nogales, a point one board member reiterated.

The board considered an accusation that he caressed a patient’s body and forced her to bend over an exam table in December 2022. A police report was filed and board staff got other records from Nogales police, revealing an April 2018 report from a patient who said Saucedo inappropriately touched her during an exam.

His attorney said he denied the claims. He couldn’t be reached directly for comment.

As they deliberated, board member Dr. Katie S. Artz said she knew Saucedo, but it wouldn’t affect her judgment. She later voted in his favor.

Board member Dr. James M. Gillard argued to table the issue. In conversation, member Dr. David C. Beyer agreed.

“We don't really know for sure if there's just smoke or if there's actually a fire,” Beyer said, reasoning they’d have more information soon.

The board discussed ordering Saucedo to meanwhile practice with a chaperone, but voted not to.

The board members considered other claims of misconduct as well. It heard from Dr. Kristopher Johnson, who was involved in a shootout with Phoenix police in June 2022, in which he was wounded and criminally charged. His case is still pending in Maricopa County Court.

That year, he deactivated his license, a medical board document shows. He disclosed a “pattern of use of alcohol” and agreed to seek treatment.

His attorney argued Wednesday he was fit to practice again.

“There is no evidence that in relation to this deactivation he was impaired at work or in the practice of medicine,” he said.

Some members of the board were amenable. Dr. Gillard reasoned it looked like a relapse, if they were to set aside the shooting.

Board chair Dr. Screven Farmer noted how unique the case was.

“This guy drunkenly taking his significant other’s gun out of a safe and, you know, he didn’t just come out of the yard shooting, he actively walked around the block and explored, kind of looking for trouble,” Farmer said. “He exchanged multiple shots. I mean, if you read the police record, it’s really rather bizarre behavior and extremely poor judgment.”

“This is not normal behavior,” board member Bethancourt said at the meeting. “And clearly, I don't want to go to a physician that has behavior like this.”

Johnson and his attorney spoke to The Republic, saying he was only slightly impaired, and he didn’t know the people outside his house were police officers. Johnson said he thought someone was breaking into his house, so he took the personal firearm of his partner, who is a probation officer, and went outside. He fired a shot into the air, and ran off when shots came his way. The gun discharged three more times as he ran, he said, not in the direction of officers. Police shot at him, and he was struck in the leg.

By one vote, the board sided with Johnson. They gave him back his license, albeit on probation, reserving the right to take further action depending on the outcome of Johnson’s criminal charges.

“I think there's logic to this,” Farmer said. “And I think it's very clear that this gentleman will be under very close supervision.”

How the board could better handle sexual misconduct claims

The board held a training session on handling claims of doctor sexual misconduct at its January meeting, the first since The Republic published an investigation into how its members and staff handle such complaints.

The board’s investigations manager reviewed their practices for handling claims of sexual misconduct by doctors, noting a shortcoming in how they interact with police. The board is required by law to tell law enforcement if they happen upon a crime, but police don’t always inform the medical board about doctors they investigate.

Member Bethancourt told The Republic he would support a change in the law to require police to speak up to the board. He said he was “shocked” to find out there were reports to police regarding the Nogales OB-GYN.

“We knew nothing about it,” Bethancourt said. “I mean I was shocked. I made the assumption that any time the police were involved other than a traffic violation, unless it was a DUI, that we would be notified by it."

The board’s investigations manager, Raquel Rivera, said it’s rare for the police to tell them about a criminal investigation.

“Our board doesn't typically work in concert with law enforcement,” she said later. “We will share information with law enforcement. But typically, the board's concerned about our investigation because sometimes criminal investigations can take a lot longer than the board's process allows.”

That was a gap exposed in The Republic’s investigation, which featured Dr. Michael Ridge, who was accused of inappropriate behavior by a total of 14 women over decades, including 11 revealed in criminal proceedings and three more in subsequent complaints to the state medical board. He was left in place by the board.

Meredith Younce, who participated in the criminal investigation in 1998, told The Republic she was never contacted by the state medical board. She said when she was 22 she didn’t know she could complain to them, and police didn’t tell her she could.

The communication gap between police and the board caught Rivera’s attention.

“We should be increasing outreach with law enforcement,” Rivera recommended to the board during her presentation. “I want to reach out to them and let them know about the board's ability to investigate these allegations. Regardless if charges are criminally pursued or not. And their ability to refer cases to the board for our awareness, should they have concerns.”

Find out more: How to check your doctor's history and other options for better health care in Arizona

Rivera elaborated on other areas ripe for improvement. The board could resolve complaints more quickly, she said, and it has asked for more money for investigators. It could do more outreach to get hospitals to report sexual misconduct.

Rivera noted a recommendation by the Federation of State Medical Boards, that they shouldn’t consider a shortage of doctors as a reason for leniency.

But earlier in the same meeting, the board did that very thing for the lone Nogales OB-GYN.

Investigative reporter Andrew Ford exposes wrongdoing and prompts reform – do you know something he should write about? Email aford@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sexual misconduct cases with Arizona Medical Board could see changes