State Medical Board of Ohio to Review Sexual Assault Allegations against Physicians

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine recently called for the State Medical Board of Ohio to conduct a thorough review of all cases of sexual assault allegations against physicians over the last 25 years.  DeWine’s request came at a news conference where he discussed the Report of The Governor’s Working Group on Reviewing of the Medical Board’s Handling of the Investigation Involving Richard Strauss.  The Working Group was created by DeWine’s Executive Order 2019-16D.  The Working Group Report found:

Medical Board staff opened case 96-1534A into Strauss in July 1996….  [T]he investigation fell into what one former employee called a “black hole.”  The Medical Board’s investigation sat open but inactive from early 1997 until after Strauss left the University, left the State of Ohio, and allowed his Ohio medical license to lapse in September 1998.  The Medical Board’s investigation sat inactive while Strauss moved to California where he held a medical license.  The Board’s investigation, while open, continued without action until it was administratively closed in January 2002, with no official action ever pursued or taken against Strauss.

Dr. Richard Strauss has been accused of sexually abusing over 170 students at Ohio State University, where he worked 1978-1998.  Strauss died by suicide in 2005.