SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A state senator has introduced a proposed law to crack down on doctor sexual misconduct following a Team 10 investigation that exposed a loophole in an existing law that let doctors who sexually abused their patients keep their medical licenses.
But SB 849 has a narrow focus and if it becomes law, would only impact one physician in the entire state, according to the Medical Board of California.
“This bill builds on AB 1636, which removed the medical board’s discretion to reinstate a physician or surgeon who lost their license due to sexual misconduct with a patient,” said Senator Akilah Weber Pierson while introducing her new proposed legislation.
A fact sheet provided by the senator’s office on SB 849 said the bill expands patient safety protections by requiring the medical board to automatically revoke the license of a physician or surgeon who had their license reinstated on or after January 1, 2020, after a finding of sexual misconduct with a patient.
Doctor convicted in criminal case got license back
Last year, a Team 10 investigation revealed AB 1636, the doctor sexual misconduct law Weber Pierson introduced more than three years ago, had a loophole that let several physicians, who were found to sexually abuse their patients, stay licensed.
Despite being touted by the medical board and the California Medical Association as a way to protect patients by preventing doctors who cross the line from practicing, our investigation found several examples where physicians kept their medical licenses.
In one case, Dr. Austin Kooba, who had sex with a patient who later became pregnant, got his revoked license reinstated just weeks after Weber Pierson’s bill became law in 2023.
The medical board had revoked the OB/GYN’s license and even put out a press release calling his actions an “egregious violation of the law.”
In another case, we discovered a gynecologist convicted of felony sexual assault was allowed to get his license back.
Dr. Ziyad Ghabra’s license was reinstated after he completed probation, which included attending a 12-step sex addicts’ program.
- Medical board lets 3 doctors with history of sexual misconduct stay licensed
- Medical board accuses psychiatrist of having sex with patient in his office multiple times
Both cases surprised Weber Pierson, who told Team 10 the physicians would lose their licenses when they came up for renewal. Our investigation discovered that wasn’t true and sent the state senator back to the drawing board.
Courts could overturn proposed law
“More recently, articles about sexual misconduct within the medical industry brought this issue to the forefront once again. In those articles and further discussions, we discovered that the original bill did not include explicit reference to license renewals,” she said when introducing SB 849.
The medical board told Team 10 it supports the spirit of the new bill but has asked the senator to update her legislation due to its narrow focus. The agency said right now, Kooba is the only physician in California the law would impact.
“I think it's possible for this to end up in the courts for an argument as to whether or not the legislature can retroactively turn back decisions made by a regulatory agency in distributing licenses to practice a profession,” said Marcus Friedman, administrative director of the Consumer Protection Policy Center at the University of San Diego School of Law.
The law professor said the medical board needs to do a better job reprimanding doctors who commit misconduct. He said the agency continues to use minimum disciplinary guidelines and often imposes penalties below what an administrative law judge recommends.
That means doctors can simply go on probation, pay a fine or take a course, for example.
Medical board asks for legislative changes
“Until the legislature addresses that problem, I believe that the medical board will continue to discipline at its lowest guideline levels.”
The medical board told Team 10 it received 227 complaints of physician sexual misconduct in the 2024-2025 fiscal year and takes the issue seriously.
Board spokeswoman Alexandria Schembra said the retrospective approach in the bill could subject the agency to a costly legal battle that may end with the proposed legislation overturned in court.
“The retrospective approach in the bill could subject the board to costly litigation that may overturn this legislation in court. Instead, the board has requested that Senator Weber Pierson update her legislation so that it does the following:
- Strengthen existing laws that prevent issuance of a license to an applicant who has committed criminal sexual offenses in or outside California, including for the commission of crimes that have been dismissed or expunged following a conviction.
- Prevent someone from seeking reinstatement if their license was revoked (or surrendered by the licensee while a Board accusation was pending against them) due to any act of sexual misconduct or exploitation with a current or former patient or client.
- Prevent someone from seeking reinstatement if their license was revoked because they were convicted of a crime that required them to register as a sex offender, regardless of their relationship to the victim. Establishes a similar requirement for sexual criminal offenses that occurred outside California.
It’s not clear if Weber Pierson will make changes to her bill. The senator’s office didn’t grant Team 10 an interview but acknowledged the proposed law has a narrow focus.
Investigative Reporter Austin Grabish can be reached at austin.grabish@10news.com
