Multiple sources state that an Arkansas family medicine doctor’s medical license was suspended after he was accused of performing sex activities while his staff watched as well as wandering naked in his clinic.
Following a complaint about Dr. David Diffine, the Arkansas State Medical Board decided on Wednesday, October 16, to issue an emergency order of suspension.
Alleging that Diffine broke the Medical Practices Act and Board Regulations, JonesboroRightNow.com and KAIT reported the board issued an emergency order of suspension.
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports that the order claims Diffine engaged in “sexual contact, sexual relations, or romantic relationship with a patient.”
The board got a complaint in July claiming the doctor “engaged in sexual contact with his staff, who were also his patients, and sexually harassed these same individuals,” JonesboroRightNow.com says.
According to KAIT, the lawsuit includes security camera footage of the claimed inappropriate behavior and harassment from his clinic on July 17.
The order claimed, “The video shows, among other things, Dr. Diffine performing a sexual act with a staff member while other staff members were present and watching.”
KAIT said, “The video also shows Dr. Diffine naked walking about the clinic.”
According to the order KAIT reports, the board granted an emergency suspension because Diffine reportedly presents “an ongoing danger to the public in his continuous practice of medicine.”
The board is conducting a hearing on December 6 when members may choose to cancel or suspend Diffine’s license in Arkansas.
JonesboroRightNow.com notes that the board temporarily suspended Diffine’s license in 2017 for allegedly overprescribing medications to patients. KAIT reports that the board dropped the charges due to its inability to verify the claims.
Similar events involving an Oregon physician suspected of sexually abusing hundreds of women under his care have been documented earlier this month; although he has avoided criminal charges, patients hope for some degree of justice via ongoing legal action against him seeking damages.
Patients of former physician David Farley said in a CNN article that they hope their litigation holds him to some degree after he subjected them to years of needless breast, genital, and rectal exams, adding to a flurry of cases involving US doctors reported to have violated people in their care during their most vulnerable moments.
Declining to indict Farley in 2022, a grand jury said insufficient evidence existed to support criminal charges against him.
However, Farley’s accusers contend that before their inability to get charges against him, the police department of West Linn, Oregon, and the state attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, conducted a poor investigation.
More than 100 victims have sought the civil court system to demand damages over their claimed mistreatment at the hands of Farley, while Rosenblum’s office told CNN they were still evaluating criminal charges in the case.
“Seeing these women’s faces [of other survivors]—and hearing a little bit about their stories—it’s more fire to keep going,” Katie Medley, a former Farley patient, told CNN.
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An Oregon medical board inquiry on Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) revealed that Farley allegedly possessed photographs of child sexual abuse on his personal cellphones, in addition to the pointless and cruel tests he conducted on them.
A respected member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Farley, met several of his victims in that church, CNN claimed.
“I remember very specifically as a teen, he would chase me down at church, me and other friends my age, and really pin us in a corner and massage our arms and shoulders and say, ‘Hey, you need to come see me,'” former patient Nicole Snow told CNN. “I would usually try to go hide in the car early, leaving early.”
Following an inquiry revealing Farley engaged in “unprofessional or dishonorable behavior” with multiple patients, the Oregon medical board withdrew his state medical license in September 2020, CNN said.
The medical board also said Farley had “ordered or administered unnecessary, outmoded tests contrary to acceptable medical standards, which may have caused potential harm,” the outlet said.
However, Farley is still not facing any criminal charges.
Under the direction of former investigator Tony Christensen, victims claimed that the West Linn police department mishandled their claims against Farley.
“Tony Christensen treated us like a nuisance, as if we were annoying,” Snow told CNN. He simply said, ‘It’s going to be really difficult to prosecute a doctor.'”
Commissioned by the city of West Linn, an independent review of the investigation revealed that Christensen lacked basic knowledge of medical procedures, including the standard cervical cancer screening process known as a “Pap smear,” OPB reported. He also lacked formal training on investigating sexual assault cases.
During the probe, the review also revealed that the police agency broke several of their own policies.
This report clearly demonstrates the lack of adherence to our policies. City authorities declared in a news release following the end of the independent assessment that we could and could have done better.
The accusations directed at Farley reminded me of the case of Larry Nassar, who was found guilty of sexually abusing or assaulting hundreds of people, including Olympic and collegiate gymnasts, using his former position as sports physician. He is virtually living a sentence of life in jail, and in April the US justice department agreed to compensate victims of Nassar with more than $138 million following FBI failure to look at repeated concerns about him.
