Kentucky restricts doctor’s license over alleged sexual assault of patient
A Kentucky doctor who allegedly made inappropriate comments to a patient several years ago faces a new allegation that he sexually assaulted a patient during an examination.
Dr. Stephen P. Meese allegedly put his fingers in the vagina of a female patient even though she said she didn’t want such an exam, according to a complaint released June 13 by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure.
The board issued an emergency order requiring Meese to have a chaperone with him anytime he is with a patient.
The board also scheduled a hearing on its complaint in January. The board has the authority to issue discipline ranging from a reprimand to revoking a doctor’s license.
An attorney who has represented Meese before the board did not return requests for comment Monday morning.
The licensure board lists a practice location for Meese in Walton, in Boone County. His area of practice is general medicine.
Meese attended Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio, and has been licensed in Kentucky since December 1997.
In a 2018 case, the board looked into a complaint that while he was practicing at a hospital in Stanford, Meese made sexual comments to woman who had come to him for a hysterectomy.
The woman said Meese asked if there would be alcohol and nudity at her upcoming birthday party, and if so, he wanted to be her designated driver.
The woman, who was not named in the record, said that on another occasion, Meese made a “framing” motion with his hands, pointed toward her vaginal area and said “best view ever,” and that Meese also told her he loved performing oral sex..
Meese denied touching the woman improperly or making sexually improper remarks, and said her allegations mischaracterized medical information he had given her.
Meese and the board agreed to settle the case under conditions that he have a chaperone when he was with female patients.
He also completed a course at Vanderbilt University on maintaining proper boundaries with patients, according to the licensure board.
The board ultimately lifted the requirement for Meese to be chaperoned.
The board opened a new inquiry after a detective with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office reported he was investigating an allegation that Meese assaulted a woman under the guise of performing an exam on her, according to the board’s complaint.
According to the complaint, Meese’s former medical assistant said she had swabbed the woman to test for COVID and a strep infection, based on the symptoms the woman described.
The assistant said she then heard Meese ask the patient if she was constipated, and that he offered to do an “internal vaginal exam” to check if she was impacted, apparently a reference to a stuck mass of feces.
The assistant told the board she had never heard of such an exam and didn’t think it was a normal procedure.
The assistant said she also heard the patient say she didn’t want a vaginal exam and that the woman said she didn’t know what that had to do with COVID.
But the assistant said Meese later told her the patient was going to have a vaginal exam.
It was clear the patient was “very uncomfortable,” Meese’s former assistant told the board — so much so that she was whispering.
In a separate interview, the patient told the board that she had seen Meese two days earlier for problems with her throat and chest and received antibiotics.
The day of the incident in the complaint, she had gone back to his office because of stomach pains.
The woman said Meese asked her if she was constipated, and she said no, but he still offered to examine her for that.
He also asked “if she wanted to do a ‘vaginal thing,’ “ the woman said, but she declined because she knew “nothing was going on down there.”
Meese did eventually perform the exam, putting a finger in her vagina and rectum, according to the board complaint.
The woman said Meese told her she was positive for COVID, but did not prescribe any medication or tell her how to deal with her COVID infection, according to the complaint.
The woman reported the encounter to police.
There is no record of a criminal charge against Meese in the state court system.
According to the complaint, Meese told the licensure board that he palpated the patient’s abdomen, which caused pain.
Meese said he told the woman he could do a vaginal or rectal exam to determine if she was impacted, and that she chose the rectal exam.
Meese said he determined the woman was not impacted and discharged her with a diagnosis of constipation.
The board concluded there was probable cause to believe Meese violated a state law that bars doctors from engaging in “dishonorable, unethical, or unprofessional conduct of a character likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the public or any member thereof,” and that his practice constituted a danger to the health and safety of his patients and the public.
Meese will have an opportunity to contest the allegations and is allowed to continue practicing while the case is pending.
