Iowa Doctor’s Discipline for Sexual Harassment OK’d by Court

Iowa’s medical board appropriately disciplined a doctor accused of engaging in a pattern of sexually predatory behavior at a hospital (Rabi v. Iowa Bd. of Med., 2017 BL 341709, Iowa Ct. App., No. 16-1730, 9/27/17).

The Iowa Court of Appeals Sept. 27 affirmed the Iowa Medical Board’s indefinite suspension of Firas Rabi’s license to practice medicine and $10,000 civil monetary penalty. It said the board’s rule prohibiting sexual harassment and unprofessional conduct applied even when the physician’s behavior didn’t threaten patients.

The decision clarified that state law authorized the board to discipline doctors for conduct that, while ...