Hospitals shield doctors from sex assault charges
Confidential settlements common in health care
The Cleveland Clinic, one of the nation’s largest and most renowned hospitals, knew of at least two cases in which one of its surgeons was accused of raping patients but kept him on the staff while reaching a confidential settlement, a USA TODAY investigation has found.
Ryan Williams, a colorectal surgeon accused in police reports by two women of anally raping them in 2008 and 2009, left Cleveland Clinic last summer for another hospital, which placed him on leave after learning of the complaints against him.
As prominent men in government, the judiciary and entertainment lose their jobs after accusations of varied forms of sexual harassment, doctors accused of
sexually assaulting patients are regularly unaffected professionally or publicly.
The same types of secret settlements criticized for their role in sex abuse and harassment cases from Hollywood to Capitol Hill are frequent in health care. Doctors and hospitals worried about their public image feel like, “If I can’t get silence, what’s in it forme?” says Jim Hopper, a clinical psychologist and expert witness in cases involving institutions’ treatment of patients. ‘ Why did he do it?’
The scene in Williams’ office after the alleged rape on April 11, 2008, was nothing short of pandemonium, according to a report filed by the Westlake, Ohio, police department.
Patient Lachelle Duncan was receiving a rectal exam from Williams, the report said, when she jumped up and exclaimed that the doctor had inserted his penis in her rectum and that she saw him holding it in his hand.
She ran out of the roomandshouted: “Why did he do it? Why did you do this?” Williams replied, “I don’t know,” according to an interview with medical assistant Patricia Bacha contained in the police report.
Williams told police the presence of semen in one of his examination rooms was the result of masturbation to relieve stress, the report said.
After she pressed charges, Duncan received a rape kit, which along with other lab tests proved inconclusive. A Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman said Williams took a polygraph, which was filed as evidence to a grand jury. Williams wasn’t prosecuted criminally, but Duncan sued Williams and the Cleveland Clinic, which resulted in a confidential settlement.
It is USA TODAY’s policy in most cases not to name victims of alleged sexual assault. But Duncan herself published her name in a public lawsuit she filed against Williams and the hospital. She declined to comment because of the confidential settlement.
Hospitals often will take over doctors’ liability in confidential settlements, which Washington plaintiffs’ attorney Patrick Malone calls a “frequent dodge” to keep medical negligence claims out of the National Practitioners Data Bank. Before they hire doctors, hospitals check the data bank, which also includes disciplinary actions by hospitals, medical societies and boards.
Duncan’s case was a “miscellaneous tort claim” filed after Ohio’s one- year statute of limitations for malpractice claims had passed.
That’s just one of the lawsworking in the favor of the Cleveland Clinic and the health care industry in Ohio. Plaintiff lawyer Michael Shroge, a former Cleveland Clinic associate general counsel, says major health care systems are “very often more interested in protecting their brand than protecting the health of patients.” Haunted by memories
Kristin Fehrwent to see Williams10 months after Duncan did to have a hemorrhoid removed. On Feb. 6, 2009, Williams brought her into the examination room alone, she told police, gave her two white pills and a cup of water and said she needed to take the pills immediately.
Fehr recalled groggily getting on the table and just as hazily leaving the medical center with her then- boyfriend, who was waiting in the car.
In October 2014, Fehr’s memories started to come back in flashes when something like a doctor’s appointment would prompt them, she said in an interview and a letter USA TODAY reviewed that she sent to the Cleveland Clinic ombudsman.
She remembered being pushed from behind, turning and seeing Williams holding his penis. “Everything I was remembering was disturbing,” Fehr said.
Assuming she was the first — and only — victim, Fehr says she started with the ombudsman and said she was “overwhelmed by feelings of horror” and “terrified to leave my apartment much of the time.” She has since left her job and moved in with her parents, where USA TODAY interviewed her.
Fehr said she thought that if the hospital knew about the accusations against Williams, it would just fire him. “My whole reason for doing that was to have some kind ofwarning out there,” she said. Instead, she started seeing promotional videos and positive articles about Williams online.
Fehr went to the Westlake police after what she thought was the slow pace of the Cleveland Clinic investigation.
The police reports for Duncan and Fehr are similar in many ways. Duncan told police that after Williams told her to “scoot back,” he kept telling her to “bear down” and “relax.” Fehr has never spoken to Duncan.
As for Duncan’s report and criminal case, however, Westlake Police Capt. Guy Turner said, it “was ordered expunged by Common Pleas Court Judge John Russo” in October 2014. That’s the same month Fehr filed her reportwith the ombudsman.
“In lay terms, it is to be treated as if it never existed,” Turner said.
While Williams told USA TODAY last month that “all my visits have been chaperoned,” his former medical assistant Bacha told police that was “not always possible due to staffing.”
Heather Phillips, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Clinic, says Williams left the hospital for reasons unrelated to the sexual assault allegations. “We take any allegation very seriously and act in a swift manner to address them,” she said.
Responding to questions from USA TODAY, Williams said, “I probably wouldn’t say anything” but then noted he had never heard of Fehr, although police interviewed him about about rape allegations involving “Kristin” in May 2015. After he was placed on leave, Williams said “I vehemently deny what these women are saying” and that the allegations were affecting his “work and home life.”
Williamswas never charged with a crime.