Urologist convicted of sexual relations with a patient while under his care

[itsmestan]

Hi all,
I just found out something very startling last week.
Back in 2003 I went to see a urologist for a urethral stricture problem. I got along with him great. He didn't seem to be pervie or anything.
He did want to see my erect penis a few times. He would leave the room, give me a magazine, then come back to look at it. Sometimes, because of the stage fright, I couldn't get erect, so then he would use a penis pump on me. This was for problems I was having with my urethra. Seems kind of unrelated, but, I'm not a doctor.
He then diagnosed me with peyronie's disease. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure I even had it. I had a curved penis, yes, but it never got in the way of sexual intercourse, and even after having surgery to remedy it, it is still curved in the same direction, just less so.
What makes my mind wonder about all of this is that it seems that it is the same type of protocol that the doctor used with the patient he was caught abusing (diagnosing with peyronie's disease then told to stimulate himself to get an erection).
Pasted below is the sanctions history from healthgrades.com:

Sexual Abuse of or Sexual Misconduct with a Patient  (6/2/2006)
Action Taken: Surrender
Allegation of Complaint: Dr -----
Nature of Complaint:

The Physician has been charged with sexual misconduct with a patient.

The patient sought treatment from the Physician for intermittent blood in his urine. The patient was diagnosed with Peyronie's disease, which can result in severe curvature of the penis. The Physician gave the patient oral anti-inflammatory medicaiton at that time.

A few years later during a follow-up visit, the Physician asked the patient to masturbate himself so he could observe the curvature first hand. When the patient could only obtain a partial erection, the Physician gave the patient a Levitra pill and then manually masturbated the patient. The Physician suggested to the patient that the patient should stimulate him , which the patient agreed and then the patient stimulated the Physician to ejaculation.

Action Taken:

The Board has accepted the Physician's Surrender of the license to practice medicine in the State of California.

-------

Now, nothing as serious happened to me. Yeah, if I was jacking off the doctor, I would be confident that it was a form of sexual misconduct.  
What makes this enigmatic is that I don't know what is a routine procedure in a urologist's office. I am going to schedule a visit with another urologist to get their professional opinion, but, since many of you have been to a urologist, I'd like to get your first hand advice as well. Has anything like this happened to you before?
Some other items of note that happened while in his practice:
He would tell me things like "your penis is a good size" and other references. He also gave me a free office visit for one of my checkups.

Thanks for your help, this is a great community.  

[newguy]

While I'm sure such abuses do occur, they are likely very rare. The case you list sounds totally 'out there' and so I'm glad that action was taken. I wouldn't read too much into a urologist saying that your penis is a good size. In fact, it could be a relevant factor should surgery be considered down the line that could shorten the penis. I'm sure that very few urologists have a sexual motive and those who do are very likely found out before long.

Edit: I added a new post further in the thread, expanding on this post, as I misread the opening post.

[itsmestan]

While I'm sure such abuses do occur, they are likely very rare. The case you list sounds totally 'out there' and so I'm glad that action was taken. I wouldn't read too much into a urologist saying that your penis is a good size. In fact, it could be a relevant factor should surgery be considered down the line that could shorten the penis. I'm sure that very few urologists have a sexual motive and those who do are very likely found out before long.

Thanks newguy,
I spoke with a general physician who knew the doctor in question and when I relayed everything I could remember from the visits with the urologist he said in his professional opinion that it did not sound like standard practice. I will have to get an opinion from an actual urologist.  

[james1947]

itsmestan

From my own experience and from what I learned on the forum, the uro's are diagnosing Peyronies by touching the penis to feel the plaques and by making an ultrasound in flaccid.
To check venous leakages (and maybe other things) the uro will make an ultrasound with induces erection by injection.
It not means your uro have some sexual motivation, he may have developed other way's to check your Peyronies.
I may be wrong but I think you should get an other opinion from an other uro.

James  

[George999]

As a guy with a LONG history of urethral stricture, this all sounds VERY strange and suspicious to me.  A little bit of this and I would be looking for another doctor.  Any reputable urologist treating a urethral stricture will NOT be investigating erections.  In fact, the doctor I went to for Peyronie's, who is one of the best in the country, did not need to see an erection first hand in order to treat me.  Most top urologists actually prefer you bring them a photograph.  It is much easier on the patient that way and allows the physician to deal with the issue much more professionally.  There are for sure cases were that approach doesn't work.  But most good urologists do their best to be the least invasive as possible, emotionally as well as physically.  So I think the treatment you (stan) received was totally inappropriate.  - George

[newguy]

When I initially replied I mistook the top part of your message as part of the misconduct report you posted. I would say that in using a penis pump on your that does sound somewhat unusual. It's not something I would want a doctor to do. It's hard to ascertain a persons motivation though. Maybe this is something some urologists have been trained to do? I really don't know. Are there any ways for you to find out if others have had similar experiences with your doctor along these lines? That might shed more light on this.

[itsmestan]

I was very naive at the time- 19 or 20 year old. I had never been to a urologist so to me it was all normal. Kind of like the overly friendly uncle that touches children inappropriately- the children don't know what is going on is "bad" but they still end up becoming psychologically damaged.

I just started seeing a sex therapist so the timing works out perfectly- I am going to talk with him on Monday, then set up an appt. to see a urologist, and talk with him.

George- I also thought the need to see an erection for a urethral stricture very weird. The doctor that actually did the surgery for peyronie's did what you said- he told me to send him pictures of my erect penis rather than see it in person. So I have that to go on...

[George999]

Stan,  I think that what is EXTREMELY important here is to realize that YOU did NOT do anything wrong in this situation.  We have ALL been taught to ALWAYS trust doctors and when we are the age that you were when this happened, very few of us would have dared to question a doctor in a situation like this.  So don't allow yourself to take any responsibility for whatever happened on yourself.  The bad guy in this situation was the doc, and he needs to be held accountable for the protection of, perhaps, even younger boys that might fall into his hands.  I am very hopeful that your sex therapist will be helpful in this regard.  But if not, I think you need to search out someone who will take action on your behalf, not for the sake of punishing this person, but for the protection of others who might suffer under his "care".  It is very important in these cases that medical licensing boards have reports from as many patients as possible, because long term decisions are made on the basis of PATTERNS, not just individual cases.  And if you report your experience to the medical licensing board, they will KNOW for sure whether it was appropriate or not for the doctor to do what he did.  Doctors exercise a HUGE amount of social authority in our society and need to be held to the highest standards when it comes to sexual integrity.  While it is not always wrong for a urologist to observe an erect penis, your case sounds really fishy, and I think even at this late date, it needs to be evaluated by an independent third party professional at the regulatory level.  I wish you the very best in this whole unfortunate affair.  I don't envy your situation, but you are doing the right thing by reaching out and you will feel even better about the whole thing if your experience can save someone else from an even more traumatic experience.