Another ‘Dr. John Doe’ sues licensing board while remaining anonymous

Another Iowa physician is suing a state licensing board while identifying himself in court only as John Doe.

It is the latest in a string of lawsuits filed by Iowa physicians who, without publicly identifying themselves, want the state-funded court system to address their grievances against the Iowa Board of Medicine, a public agency.

In this case, a “Dr. John Doe” is appealing the medical board’s denial of his request for rehearing in a disciplinary case. In an effort to further shield his client’s identity, the attorney for Doe, Mike Sellers, has stated in court papers that he will only make more “specific references” to the board’s alleged wrongdoing after the court agrees to let him file documents under seal.

Toward that end, Sellers is asking that all briefs and attachments filed with the court be sealed from public view to “avoid irreparable harm to (Doe’s) career.”

Sellers is also asking the court to grant a stay that will prevent the Board of Medicine from publishing its final, public decision in the case.

The lawsuit alleges that in 2017, the Board of Medicine issued an order requiring Doe to undergo a clinical evaluation, and that the evaluation’s findings served as the basis for disciplinary action against Doe.

Sellers argues the board’s order to have Doe evaluated was “based on two prior cases which had been reviewed and closed” and that the board considered one case, which was concluded seven years prior, “merely to assassinate (Doe’s) character.”

He claims the organization that Doe was evaluated by, the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians, “is an inherently self-interested program as it both identifies physician deficiencies and sells interventional programs to correct those deficiencies.”

He also alleges that CPEP’s recommendations for Doe mirrored the exact disciplinary action the board had proposed in ordering the evaluation. As a result, he says, the board was “essentially feeding to its evaluator the outcome it sought.”

In the petition Sellers filed with the court, he suggests the case against Doe is based on allegations of incompetence and failure to treat patients within an acceptable standard of care. He says Doe provided three expert opinions indicating Doe’s “care and treatment of his patients was within the standard of care” and says that Doe “had proven himself competent by other evaluations.”

The board has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is at least the fifth “John Doe” case brought against the medical board in the past two years. The other cases include:

— Uknown physician: Last September, an Iowa doctor identifying himself only as “John Doe” went to court and sought a temporary injunction blocking the board from issuing a public statement of charges against him. Within 24 hours, and before the board could respond, District Court Judge Lawrence P. McLellan issued the injunction. A week later, McLellan ordered that exhibits in the case be filed under seal. Two weeks ago, McLellan dismissed the case and also ruled that he “should not have issued the temporary injunction since the board, under its rule, has the right to publicly issue its statement of charges.” However, the court exhibits in the case remain sealed. Earlier this week, Sellers asked the judge to reconsider his ruling.

— The Salaria case: In August 2020, an Iowa physician accused of sexual misconduct with a 19-year-old patient sued the Board of Medicine while identifying himself in court papers only as “Dr. John Doe.” However, the doctor’s attorney included in his public filings a reference to his client as “Dr. Salaria.” State records show only one Iowa-licensed physician by that name — Dr. Vikrant Salaria of the First Care Medical Center in Council Bluffs, who denied any knowledge of the case when contacted by the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

— The Obamwonyi case: Earlier this year, an emergency room physician who had allegedly caused the death of a patient in 2017 took the Board of Medicine to court while identifying himself only as “Dr. John Doe.” The doctor sought an emergency hearing on his efforts to block the board from proceeding with charges against him alleging professional incompetency.

State records indicate the specific allegations against Doe, as well as the timing of various board filings, correspond to actions involving the license of Dr. Andrew O. Obamwonyi, a 57-year-old physician who has practiced in Des Moines and Storm Lake.

— The Calcaterra case: In a third John Doe case, an Iowa judge ruled in 2020 that a physician accused of shoving another doctor during an operating-room altercation could not sue the state under an assumed name. That case involved Dr. Domenico Calcaterra, a vascular surgeon who worked at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics from 2008 to 2012.

As part of the litigation, Johnson County District Court Judge Christopher Bruns refused to let the lawsuit against the case proceed with Calcaterra identified only as “John Doe,” noting that “the public would have a heightened interest in this litigation because (the defendants) are public institutions and the state itself.”

Bruns referenced the late Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady in his ruling, noting that Cady had observed on more than one occasion that “the Iowa courts must be transparent,” adding that “the public interest in knowing who the plaintiff is outweighs the plaintiff’s interest in protecting his/her name from disclosure.”