Panel accuses doctor of sexual misconduct

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Josephine Marcotty, Star Tribune
April 19, 2004

The Minnesota Board of Medical Practice has alleged that Dr. Robert Woolley of St. Paul engaged in sexual misconduct in 2001 with a patient and co-worker while working as a family practice physician at Boynton Health Service at the University of Minnesota.
Woolley, 43, denied the allegation Friday. He lost his job at Boynton in 2001 after the university found he had committed sexual harassment against the co-worker, according to legal documents. He now works as a temporary doctor at various clinics in the area, filling in during vacations or when there is a high patient demand, he said.

The Medical Board typically does not make pending investigations public, but a 1996 law allows the disclosure of allegations involving sexual misconduct by physicians. The law is intended to make it easier for other potential victims to come forward, the board said.

According to the board, Woolley treated the patient and then had an intimate relationship with her between 1999 and 2001. The patient tried to avoid contact with him and said she felt stalked, the board said. She obtained a temporary restraining order against him and filed a sexual harassment complaint against him at the university.

Woolley said Thursday that he is contesting the board action against him. He said that he treated the woman as a patient once in 1997, long before he said they initiated an intimate relationship in which she was a willing participant.

He said that the board's claim that he was her doctor is based on the fact that he provided her with refills for medications that another doctor had prescribed. The woman made the harassment allegations against him after the relationship was over and he had reconciled with his wife, he said.