Renowned Pediatrician, Accused of Abuse

[Peikko 1,575]

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Renowned Pediatrician, Accused of Abuse, Agrees to Stop Medical Practice

By TAMAR LEWIN

Published: March 20, 2009

Dr. Melvin D. Levine, the North Carolina pediatrician who faces a lawsuit accusing him of molesting young boys during physical examinations, has signed a consent order agreeing that he will never again practice medicine in North Carolina or anywhere else.

In the consent order, which was approved by the state medical board today, the board said that it had been prepared to present testimony that the genital examinations Dr. Levine conducted on five unnamed patients were conducted outside the presence of a parent or chaperone, were not medically indicated and were either not documented in the medical record, or not documented according to prevailing standards.

Until the sexual molestation charges surfaced earlier last year, Dr. Levine, 69, was the one of the most prominent voices in the field of learning disabilities. His books and lectures were widely acclaimed by both teachers and parents.

Dr. Levine has denied any wrongdoing. He voluntarily suspended his license to practice last April, and faces no criminal charges.The consent order, whose language was negotiated with Dr. Levine’s lawyer, said that Dr. Levine had been prepared to present testimony that his examinations were medically indicated, and consistent with standard medical practice.

The order also said the board had received many letters in support of Dr. Levine from doctors, educators, former patients and their parents, saying that he had been instrumental both in helping students who struggle in school, and “helping teachers and clinicians understand the differences in learning and better manage students whose problems were misunderstood and poorly managed in the past.”

Dr. Levine’s lawyer, Alan Schneider, said, “He continues to adamantly deny the allegations.”

He agreed to the consent order, Mr. Schneider said, because the medical board proceeding “has been and would continue to be a major distraction from Dr. Levine’s primary mission to help individuals with serious learning difficulties and developmental problems.”

Dr. Levine has not been a practicing pediatrician for some time, Mr. Schneider said, and the order will allow him continue his writing and lecturing.

The five unnamed patients in the medical-board proceeding are all North Carolina children, Mr. Schneider said, and not the same ones in the pending lawsuit.The author of “A Mind at a Time,” and other books on learning disabilities, Dr. Levine was chief of ambulatory pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, before moving to the University of North Carolina in 1985. He is a Rhodes Scholar and attended Harvard Medical School.

There have been complaints against Dr. Levine dating back more than two decades.

In 1985, a few months after he left Boston, court records show that a letter of complaint was sent to the president of Children’s Hospital. That complaint turned into a civil lawsuit filed in 1988 in Federal District Court in Massachusetts.

There was also a formal complaint to the Massachusetts medical board in 1993. And a longtime medical colleague, Dr. William Coleman, said Dr. Levine told him in 2002 that another former patient was claiming sexual abuse.

None of the cases were proved in court.

The lawsuit was dismissed in 1991 for lack of evidence. The Massachusetts medical board did not find enough evidence to act on the 1993 complaint. The patient who made the complaint to Dr. Levine in 2002 is now a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by Carmen Durso, a Boston lawyer.

Mr. Durso has said that more than 50 other former patients or their parents have been in contact with him with complaints about Dr. Levine.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Oh my. This is beyond fvcked up. Throw him into general population.

[almaty 19]

terrible and just wrong..sick f##k

[Peikko 1,575]

I can't decide if there is some dispute as to whether he is an abuser, or just that some people think that his other good works outweigh the bad things he has done, sort of like with the case of priests in the past.

[almaty 19]

interesting..i think, some people are in denial of the claims..and want to show their support and loyalty..there is allot of incidents of this in his history.

[HAL 9000 96]

Sounds like a Law and Order episode that was on last week I think.

Sick b@stard.

[Peikko 1,575]

That's what I thought, it's not like it was a one off incident, but as if this is a behavioural trait. It's very sad of course.

[mkg265 2]

Well, if he is guilty or not his life is ruined now.

I can't believe that he had complaints over twenty years ago and now he is stopped.

[Peikko 1,575]

I'm not sure that his life is ruined. It seems that he can still carry on with his book tours etc and he has a lot of fans. I would say ruined very much overstates his current life.

[GaryC 7]

It's hard to comment on this. It says that although there have been complaints that nothing has been proven. It's that "innocent until proven guilty" thing. It's good that he stopped practicing though.

[HAL 9000 96]

It is a bit odd though how so much a history of complaints could occur without criminal charges being brought up. It makes a judgment a bit hard.

[Peikko 1,575]

Exactly so, he has not been found guilty, so should he be treated as innocent? Tough call, but I think the fact that he has voluntarily resigned his medical license says something, even if he has explained that one away as well. Cases like this certainly make you think

Edited March 20, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[GaryC 7]

Exactly so, he has not been found guilty, so should he be treated as innocent? Tough call, but I think the fact that he has voluntarily resigned his medical license says something, even if he has explained that one away as well. Cases like this certainly make you think

Well he is 69 years old. Maybe he thought it was time to hang it up to avoid any more hassle.

[Peikko 1,575]

Certainly possible. I guess what I find intriguing is whether this is a case of covering up, because of his position, or if there are 20 years worth of silly kids making phony complaints?

[Peikko 1,575]

It does seem to me as if by not challenging the order, he has avoided a certain amount of unpleasant exposure, for the most part. I don't know enough, of course, but I do find these things give one a cerebral workout, as it were.