After Larry Nassar, NC bill would toughen sex assault rules for doctors

Proposal includes a new duty to report suspected conduct and a new crime specifically for sexual assault on a patient.

Posted 3:39 p.m. Mar 19, 2019 — Updated 1:26 p.m. Mar 21, 2019

Travis Fain

, WRAL statehouse reporter, & Laura Leslie, WRAL Capitol Bureau chief

RALEIGH, N.C. — Doctors would have to report suspected sexual assaults and drug abuse in their profession or face discipline from the state Medical Board, potentially all the way up to loss of medical license, under new legislation at the statehouse that owes its origin in part to Dr. Larry Nassar's crimes.

House Bill 228 is a broad bill, making a number of changes to North Carolina Medical Board regulations. The new duty to report is among them, as is the creation of a new crime: Sexual assault of an incapacitated patient or sexual contact under the pretext of medical treatment.

Both are responses to Nassar, the former Michigan State University doctor who molested more than 200 girls and young women, many while he was a doctor for the U.S. national gymnastics team.

Doctors would have to report incidents they believed happened within 30 days or face a range of disciplines from the state board. Each case would depend on circumstances, and loss of license is a rare step for the board. A board spokeswoman said she couldn't speculate on the likely punishment for violation of the new duty-to-report rule.

If a doctor sexually assaults someone in his or her medical care, that would be a Class C felony, potentially charged in addition to existing crimes, including rape.

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Rep. Greg Murphy, R-Pitt, the only practicing physician in the legislature, is sponsoring the bill, although he noted that many of the provisions were requested by the N.C. Medical Board and are based on existing regulations in Delaware.

Murphy said the Michigan medical board was never informed of the allegations against Nassar, so there were no red flags to prompt any investigation.

"If there is a process where someone is being accused, then the medical board needs to know about that and be able to track that," Murphy said.

The 23-page bill, which cleared the House Health Committee on Tuesday, also includes a provision that would make it easier to get a death certificate signed by allowing more people at a hospital to sign them.

Clarification: The post has been edited to clarify that loss of license would be the maximum potential penalty for failure to report and to note that it is a rare step for the board to take.

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