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, approved by the state medical board on Friday, the board said it had been prepared to present testimony that the genital examinations Dr. Levine conducted on five unnamed patients were done 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 accusations of sexual molesting surfaced last year, Dr. Levine was a prominent voice in the field of learning disabilities. His books and lectures were acclaimed by teachers and parents.
Dr. Levine, 69, has denied any wrongdoing. He voluntarily suspended his license last April and faces no criminal charges. Although the consent order did not address his guilt or innocence, Thomas Mansfield, the medical board’s legal director, said the order was unusually broad.
“The result of this consent order is that this physician will never examine another patient anywhere in the world,” Mr. Mansfield said. “Rarely do you see one that says never again, in any jurisdiction.”
The order, whose language was negotiated with Dr. Levine’s lawyer, said 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 he had been instrumental both in helping students who struggle in school and in “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.”[...]
WOW!!, every educator worth anything reads and implements Dr. Levine's theories in his classroom. Are there any clean living role models around anymore?
ReplyDelete(of course I know there are).