The report card for each state contains the scores it received when we evaluated it for how well it protects patients against sexually abusive doctors. The overall rating is the average of the score the state received in each category. In states with two medical boards, one for osteopathic physicians and the other for medical doctors, the overall rating is based on an average of each board’s scores.
Click on the boxes below to read how Colorado did on each category — and how we calculated the score for the categories.
State rating (out of 100)
Even though the medical board found in 2000 that Kahler had engaged in sexual acts with three patients, it rejected a hearing panel’s recommendation that it revoke his license, opting instead for suspension and five years’ probation. Medical experts said he was unlikely to re-offend, and the board cited his remorse.
Then in 2012, he agreed to halt practice while the board investigated allegations he had repeatedly engaged in sex acts with a patient he was treating for anxiety and depression. The board then ordered him to permanently relinquish his license in 2013.
Kahler has not yet responded to a request for comment.
It is the board's policy to discourage anonymous complaints and it will not automatically investigate them. Instead, it reviews them on a case-by-case basis to decide whether to investigate.
”[The doctor] was diagnosed with a sleep disorder that may have affected his judgment in beginning a personal relationship.”
— The Colorado Medical Board, on why a doctor engaged in sex with a patient. The board went on to say his conduct “occurred at a time of stress in his life.” The doctor voluntarily surrendered his license in 2004. Six years later, he was granted a restricted license.
The medical board, by law, may not permanently revoke a license. Revocations last for two years, after which doctors may continue to reapply. A doctor can agree to give up his license permanently, but it will be publicly listed as “relinquishment,” according to board Director Karen McGovern.
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