Your Doc's In owner's medical license temporarily suspended

UPDATE: The Maryland Board of Physicians' website as of Feb. 16, 2023, lists Walter Gianelle's medical license status as being on "probation", in accordance with the ruling addressed in the article below. The order to removed the suspension, thereby moving him to "probation" status for three years was issued Dec. 15, 2022.

A local physician and owner of multiple Your Doc's In locations on the Eastern Shore has been had his license temporarily suspended by the Maryland Board of Physicians concerning a consensual sexual relationship he had with an employee who he also treated.

Walter Gianelle was found guilty Nov. 10 by a disciplinary panel of the Maryland Board of Physicians of "moral and unprofessional in the conduct of medicine based" and that the doctor "violated" the board's sexual misconduct regulations that prohibit a health care practitioner from engaging in sexual behavior with a current patient, according to the Maryland State Board of Physicians final decision and order in the case.

The board ordered his medical license suspended for a minimum of 30 days, which went into effect Nov. 15, the documents state. After the 30-day suspension has passed and he has completed the terms of his suspension, Gianelle may petition for termination of the suspension. A minimum three-year probation period will follow. He must also pay a civil fine of $15,000 within two years to the board.

He did not have any prior disciplinary history with the board and his cooperation with the panel in its proceedings was noted.

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A board-certified physician since 1993, he is president and sole owner of six Your Doc's In urgent care facilities, located in north and south Salisbury, West Ocean City, Pocomoke City, Cambridge and Easton.

Gianelle, on Jan. 24, 2019, self reported to the Board his sexual relationship of two years with a female employee who he also treated as an urgent care doctor. An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint had been filed by the individual in October 2018.

The Board of Physicians disciplinary board charged Gianelle on May 25, 2021.

Relationship 'completely intertwined' with medical care, employment

The "individual," as she is referred to in board documents, was diagnosed with a "very serious" medical condition in 2013 requiring continual medical and surgical treatment in subsequent years. The relationship took place from October 2015 through December 2017, during which Gianelle treated her as an office patient six times, according to documents in the case. He also treated her prior to the relationship and after it ended.

Some of their sexual encounters took place in the facilities' offices during business hours, the board found.

"His intimate sexual relationship with her was completely intertwined with both her medical care and her employment in his medical practice," records state, while presenting portions of some of the 5,000 text messages between the two. Some of the texts discussed both her medical care along with sexual references in the same text.

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In exemption filings, Gianelle had contented the female was "never a current patient of his" as an urgent care provider does not have a "continuing physician-patient relationship." However, the administrative law judge contended Gianelle "stepped outside the scope of that role." The panel ultimately found he was involved in a "continuum of medical care" throughout the time of their sexual relationship.

"The evidence is utterly at odds with his claim that she was not a 'current' patient ... he indeed treated her as a patient in the ordinary sense while eagerly pursuing their sexual relationship," the disciplinary panel stated.

Other exemptions were ultimately denied by the panel.

An evidentiary hearing, in which Gianelle testified, had been held March 1. The administrative law judge recommended May 12 that the charges be upheld. Both oral and written exemptions were recorded, with a separate panel of the disciplinary board issuing its final decision and order in November of this year.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Medical licenses suspended for Your Doc's In owner by board