HARRISBURG – The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has affirmed the revocation of a medical license for a nephrologist found to have made numerous unwanted sexual advances toward nurses and medical support staff.
The Commonwealth Court’s ruling, reached on April 18 by its judges Patricia A. McCullough, Christine Fizzano Cannon and Lori A. Dumas, concurred with a prior decision reached by the State Board of Medicine on Nov. 2, 2020, finding Dr. Zafar Iqbal’s conduct violated the prohibition on immoral and unprofessional conduct set forth in the Medical Practice Act of 1985 (MPA) and its associated regulations.
“Iqbal has been a licensed medical doctor in Pennsylvania since 1990 and specializes as a nephrologist. In 2003, Iqbal lost his practice privileges at the Fresenius Dialysis Center after allegations of sexual harassment by several nurses. In 2012, after an incident involving unwanted sexual contact with a nurse when he was practicing at UPMC Passavant (UPMC), Iqbal received a warning, but no formal discipline,” Fizzano Cannon said.
“On Aug. 1, 2015, while still at UPMC, Iqbal made unwanted physical advances toward a nurse, M.S., in an elevator, by kissing her and putting his tongue in her mouth. She reported it to her superiors the same day. After an investigation and internal proceedings, UPMC’s board of trustees revoked Iqbal’s hospital privileges as of March 17, 2016. Then, on Nov. 7, 2017, while working for Curahealth in Oakdale, Iqbal sexually assaulted a medical records clerk, K.F., who reported it to the police on Nov, 9, 2017. Iqbal was suspended from Curahealth and after a bench trial on Nov. 20, 2018, he was convicted of one count of simple assault (a second-degree misdemeanor) and three counts of harassment (a third-degree misdemeanor). He was sentenced to five years of probation.”
In November 2019, the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs filed an Order to Show Cause against Iqbal, alleging in association with the M.S. and K.F. incidents, he was being charged with seven counts of unprofessional and/or immoral conduct in violation of the MPA and its regulations.
The OTSC advised Iqbal that his state medical license could be revoked and he could be assessed civil fines of up to $10,000 per violation.
“At hearings on Feb. 26-27, 2020, two UPMC doctors testified about the 2012 incident. M.S. testified about the 2015 incident, as did two of her superiors, as well as two doctors involved in UPMC’s investigation, two police officers and the professional conduct investigator who worked on M.S.’s report. K.F. testified as to the 2017 incident, as did the police officer and the professional conduct investigator who investigated it. The Bureau also presented an expert on medical ethics and conduct,” Fizzano Cannon said.
During his testimony, Iqbal denied that the encounters were non-consensual, admitted that he has had about 15 extramarital affairs, about half with women from his medical workplaces who were nurses or support staff – and maintained that in the past, allegations of sexual harassment have been lodged against him “after an affair soured.”
“The hearing officer credited M.S. and K.F. and described their testimony as consistent, credible, and corroborated: ‘More specifically, their body language, tears, as well as the tone and tenor of their voices lent credibility to the veracity of their testimony.’ The hearing officer also credited the Bureau’s additional witnesses and discredited Iqbal. The hearing officer therefore concluded that Iqbal had violated the MPA’s prohibition on unprofessional and immoral conduct as to the M.S. and K.F. incidents,” Fizzano Cannon said.
“Weighing the seriousness of Iqbal’s offenses with the lack of any ‘meaningful’ mitigation evidence, the hearing officer concluded that Iqbal’s medical license should be revoked. The Board adopted the hearing officer’s opinion in full. Iqbal then petitioned this Court pro se for review.”
Iqbal argued that the Board’s revocation of his medical license was “arbitrary and capricious,” but the Commonwealth Court disagreed, finding that the record showed an escalating tendency in Iqbal’s behavior over the years and was “amply supported by substantial evidence.”
“We agree with the Board that the extensive evidence presented by the Bureau and summarized above fully supports the sanction of revocation. That determination was amply supported by substantial evidence of record and was not legally erroneous, arbitrary or capricious. This result is also consistent with [prior] holdings, where this Court has upheld severe sanctions for doctors found to have violated the MPA and its regulations against unwanted sexual advances and attacks on nurses and support medical staff,” Fizzano Cannon stated.
“Moreover, as the hearing officer pointed out, Iqbal’s assertions of inconsistencies in the testimony of both M.S. and K.F. pertain to minor or ancillary matters rather than these victims’ accounts of the incidents themselves, which were the basis of the Board’s revocation decision and which were unequivocally found credible, consistent, and corroborated by other evidence of record.”
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania case 1190 C.D. 2022
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com