Two women testify that they were fondled during surgery by Dr. Russel Aubin, who is awaiting trial on a related second-degree sexual-assault charge.

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, December 10, 2005

BY FELICE J. FREYER
Journal Medical Writer

The state medical board has revoked the license of Dr. Russel J. Aubin, an anesthesiologist, concluding that he molested a woman as she was undergoing knee surgery at Kent Hospital last year.

The patient received spinal anesthesia, which allowed her to stay awake, but she was also given medications to help her relax. She testified that Aubin massaged her neck and shoulders and then reached under the johnny and touched her breasts.

Aubin, 40, is awaiting trial on a criminal charge of second-degree sexual assault -- unwanted touching or fondling -- in connection with the incident. He pleaded not guilty after the attorney general's office charged him in February.

In a proceeding before a Health Department hearing officer, Aubin argued that the drugs had caused the woman to fantasize the incident and that a doctor could not molest a patient in a busy operating room without anyone noticing.

But the Health Department presented an expert witness who questioned whether the drugs could have that effect. The prosecution also produced photographs from a surgery reenactment that showed that vertical surgical drapes concealed the patient's upper body and the anesthesiologist from others in the room.

The Health Department also located another woman who testified that Aubin had fondled her in the same way during surgery years ago in Massachusetts, using the same words the Rhode Island patient recalled.

Aubin's lawyer, David W. Carroll, called the license revocation "a gross miscarriage of justice" and said that "without question" Aubin would appeal the decision to Superior Court.

"I think that the evidence overwhelmingly supported the fact that the doctor did not engage in any inappropriate conduct," Carroll said. The allegations, he said, "were the result of known side effects of the anesthesia given."

The state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline infrequently revokes a doctor's license -- no more than once or twice a year. When the evidence of unprofessional conduct is strong, doctors usually agree to voluntarily surrender their licenses.

Aubin's license was suspended in January after a preliminary review of the evidence led the health director to conclude that the doctor was an immediate danger to the public. The hearing took place in several sessions between February and August, and the hearing officer, Maureen A. Hobson, rendered her decision on Thursday

The incident occurred Dec. 23, 2004. The 21-year-old college student suffering from a soccer injury came to Kent Hospital for knee surgery under spinal anesthesia. She testified that she lay on her back on the operating table. A vertical drape located near her waist prevented her from seeing the surgeon as he worked on her knee.

Aubin began to massage her neck and shoulders, although she was not in pain and had not requested the massage. She testified that he then began to touch her breasts under the johnny, and urged her not to tell anyone. The patient said she did not cry out to alert others because she didn't not want to distract the surgeon, possibly causing injury.

After that, the patient fell asleep and did not wake up until she was moved to the recovery room. There, she confided in a female nurse, who reported the incident to the hospital administration.

Aubin admitted giving a neck-and-shoulder massage but asserted that the patient fantasized the rest. He put into evidence several published articles describing cases in which one of the drugs he gave the patient, propofol, caused people to have sexual fantasies.

Dr. Kathleen C. Hittner, an anesthesiologist who is now president of Miriam Hospital, appeared as an expert witness for the state. She said those articles were anecdotal reports, not scientific studies; that the incidents described were dissimilar to what the Kent Hospital patient alleged; and that the articles cautioned against using them as a defense in sexual-abuse cases.

Hittner also noted that Aubin had given the patient more medication than appeared necessary and speculated that the additional doses "were administered to make the patient sleep and forget what happened."

Dr. Robert S. Crausman, the medical board's chief administrative officer, said that the state had a strong case based on the testimony of the patient and others, but that it was further strengthened by testimony from the Massachusetts woman.

Aubin provided anesthesia to this woman in August 2000, while she was undergoing surgery to remove a cyst on her wrist at Wing Memorial Hospital, in Palmer, Mass. She told hospital officials and the police at the time that Aubin had fondled her breasts during surgery, but no action was taken.

Asked whether he was worried that Aubin has similarly assaulted many other women, Crausman said, "Of course we are. That's why we reacted so aggressively" in suspending his license.

"The two young women were very courageous," said Bruce W. McIntyre, the medical board's lawyer, speaking of the patients who testified. "It is a very big deal to come forward in a system where you know right up front no one's going to want to believe you. They were courageous, articulate and extraordinarily believable."