Each state has its own set of statutes and regulations on licensing doctors, accommodating patients who wish to file complaints, and releasing information about physicians who have been subject to discipline and legal action. On this page, we’re sharing the key findings regarding New York, which we will continue to update as the series progresses.
Key fact: The Office of Professional Medical Conduct is required to investigate all complaints. It takes an average of 268 days to complete a full field investigation, according to the most recent annual report by the Office of Professional Medical Conduct.
“A patient cannot give meaningful consent to sexual contact due to the position of trust and disparity of power in the physician-patient relationship.”
— Department of Health policy statement on physician sexual misconduct.
Punn, a pediatrician, pleaded guilty in April 2014 to drugging and sexually assaulting one of his young female patients, an attack he recorded on video.
He was sentenced initially to 30 years in federal prison, then to 15 years on state charges.
As part of a plea deal, he also agreed to reimburse that victim and five other young female patients who were also sexually abused for any restitution -- to be determined later by a judge.
Federal prosecutors said he sexually abused his young patients by photographing and filming them naked. Victims were as young as 11, in cases that go back to at least 2007.
A prosecutor said he intentionally targeted children of Indian immigrants. He lured the children to his home office with false diagnoses so their parents weren’t present, used drugs to incapacitate them, then sexually assaulted and photographed them.
Evidence in the case included a "how to" guide he wrote on molesting children, prosecutors said.
He surrendered his license in 2014.
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