New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners Revokes License of Middlesex Doctor Convicted of Criminal Sexual Contact with a Female Patient during an Exam
An Old Bridge doctor’s medical license has been revoked following his conviction for sexual contact with a female patient during an examination in his office.
The license revocation was announced by Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the State Division of Consumer Affairs. A consent order with the State Board of Medical Examiners, Dr. Farooq Rehman, who ran Neurology Consultants of Central Jersey in Old Bridge, must wait at least five year before he can reapply for his medical license.
“Doctors who exploit patients to satisfy their own base desires, as we allege Dr. Forooq Rehman did, are a menace to the public and a disgrace to their profession,” Porrino said. “The revocation of Dr. Rehman’s license serves not only as just punishment for his actions, it demonstrates our continued commitment to removing these sexual predators from practice.”
“Patients deserve quality care, not exploitation and abuse,” added Steve Lee, director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “By removing Dr. Rehman and doctors like him from practice, the board fulfills its responsibility to protect patients from doctors who use their position to take advantage of vulnerable patients.”
Rehman was arrested twice in 2015 for criminal sexual contact charges involving two of his patients. A video recorded by the patient shows one of the two incidents involving her. After his arrest on September 22, 2015, the Board Hearing Committee ordered the defendants license to be temporarily revoked.
His uncalled for behavior included: groping of the patient’s bottocks, fondling of her breasts and inappropriate touching of her genital area. These actions exceed any appropriate neurological examination, as the patient was merely seeking treatment for her hand.
On Nov. 24, 2015, less than two weeks after the committee ordered the temporary suspension of Rehman’s license, he was again arrested on criminal sexual contact charges involving another patient. In December 2016, the committee’s decision was ratified by the Board, which determined Rehman’s behavior posed a clear and imminent danger to the public and upheld his suspension pending a full hearing on the allegations against him.
On June 2016, Rehman pled guilty in Middlesex County Superior Court to:
♣ one count of criminal sexual contact with regard to the first patient
♣ one count of harassment with regard to the second patient.
In August, he was sentenced to one year of probation. On Jan. 5, Rehman resolved the allegations against him by entering into a consent order that calls for the revocation of his license. Under the agreement, he may not apply for or obtain a license to practice medicine or surgery in New Jersey until five years from Nov. 13, 2015, the date of his temporary suspension. No credit will be given toward his revocation for any length of time Rehman practices in another jurisdiction or state. He must also reimburse the board $35,738 in investigative costs and attorney fees, and pay fines and penalties totaling $10,000.
Rehman must also complete, at his own expense, an ethics course and a boundaries course approved in advance by the Board. He must also undergo a board-approved psycho-sexual evaluation and complete all recommendations for treatment. He must also appear before the board to discuss his readiness to reenter the practice of medicine, and demonstrate his fitness and competency to do so.
As part of the agreement, Rehman is prevented from managing, overseeing, supervising or influencing the practice of medicine or provision of health care activities in New Jersey until all the terms of the consent order have been met.
