Surgeon suspended over rape allegations
A doctor at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center has been placed on leave amid allegations that he raped two patients several years ago when he worked at the Cleveland Clinic in northeast Ohio.
A USA Today investigation published Friday outlined the sexual-assault allegations against Dr. Ryan Williams while he was employed at the Cleveland Clinic. After leaving the clinic, he joined the Wexner Medical Center on Aug. 1, 2017.
Williams, a colorectal surgeon, was placed on administrative leave in December, according to a statement from Dr. Andrew M. Thomas, chief clinical officer of the Wexner Medical Center.
“The university takes these allegations of past misconduct seriously, and Dr. Williams was placed on leave in December,” Thomas said. “We are actively investigating to ensure that patient safety at Ohio State was never compromised.”
Williams, 44,was accused by two women of anally raping them during medical visits, one in 2008 and the other in 2009, according to USA
Today.
A Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman said in an emailed statement that the clinic reported the accusations immediately to law enforcement, but Williams was never criminally charged.
“We have processes for employees and patients to report any concerns, which are then thoroughly investigated,” said Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman Heather Phillips. “In these cases, we immediately reported the accusations to the appropriate law-enforcement agencies and cooperated fully with the investigations. No charges were made against the physician, and he passed a polygraph test.”
A confidential settlement was reached after one accuser sued Williams and the clinic, according to USA Today. A police report from 2008 involving Williams has been expunged, according to police in Westlake, a suburb of Cleveland.
A separate investigative report from Westlake police details the other woman’s allegation of abuse by Williams.
According to the investigative documents, the woman reported the 2009 incident in 2014 to the Cleveland Clinic’s ombudsman. The clinic contacted Westlake police about the incident, which reportedly occurred at the Westlake Cleveland Clinic branch,
but it was determined that the Cleveland Clinic Police Department would investigate the complaint.
The accuser reported that the doctor, whose name is redacted in the police report, gave her pills when she came in for a procedure. The woman said she took the pills and then became groggy and lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, she realized that she was being sexually assaulted by the doctor, the report said.
The woman told investigators she had scattered memories of what happened, but in the years that followed, she experienced fragmented memories from the surgery and a “feeling of terror that was so intense that I felt I had
to suppress it as best I could,” the police report states.
The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office informed Westlake police in 2016 that the 2008 and 2009 cases could be presented together to a grand jury, but a judge would order the cases to be tried separately, the police report said. Prosecutors felt that “neither case would be a solid case on its own,” and therefore the 2009 case would not be presented to a grand jury.
A LinkedIn profile with Williams’ name and photo states that he left the Cleveland Clinic in June of last year before joining Ohio State.
Ohio State adheres “strictly” to background-check requirements and policies when hiring a physician, Thomas said.
“Our preliminary review indicates that these processes were followed appropriately in the hiring of Dr. Williams,” Thomas said. “We continue to review our processes to ensure they meet the highest standards.”
Ohio State said it contacted the Cleveland Clinic about Williams for a reference check ahead of his hiring.
Williams’ page on the Wexner Medical Center’s website states that he earned his medical degree from Michigan State University in 2000 and completed his medical residency at Fairview Hospital in Cleveland in 2005.