Though he remains under suspicion of sexually abusing a patient, state medical officials have allowed a Tucson physician to resume his suspended medical practice while on probation.
The terms of the probation require that the physician, Tucson gastroenterologist Dr. Arturo Baez, have a female health-care worker present whenever he treats a female patient.
Baez also must undergo a psychosexual evaluation within a month. Pending the outcome of that evaluation, the Arizona Medical Board is expected to take further action on his case.
Baez's troubles erupted four months ago when an unidentified female patient accused him of aggressively kissing her and groping her breasts during an after-hours visit with him at his Tucson medical office.
After interviews with Baez and his accuser and an office worker, the medical board suspended the doctor's medical license in an emergency meeting in late March.
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The medical board's investigation since then has been unable to determine if the abuse allegations were valid. Accounts of the alleged incident became a "he said/she said" situation, with no witnesses other than the doctor and the patient, board documents say.
Although the female patient, identified in board documents only as "A.C.," filed a police report the day after her encounter with Baez, no criminal charges have been filed against him.
Baez, who is married, has denied committing any sexual abuse of his patient and is now "about broke" after months of no income while defending himself during the investigation and several legal hearings, his attorney said.
"We don't really know why this patient made these accusations, and I don't think he (Baez) is aware of what her motive may have been," said Daniel Jantsch, the Phoenix attorney now representing Baez before the medical board.
Citing the recent national furor over the case involving the Duke lacrosse team — when three Duke University athletes were falsely accused of raping a stripper — Jantsch said "we know these things happen."
"I've represented a number of doctors accused of this kind of thing. One was actually guilty and went to prison. But most of the others ended up to be false accusations. So it's very devastating and financially quite ruinous to go through this."
Before the alleged incident, A.C. had been a patient of Baez's for three years and had briefly worked in his office. On March 1, she called him on his cell phone complaining of severe abdominal pain, and he saw her in his office early that evening.
During that visit, Baez examined her, recommended a colonoscopy, then gave her free samples of a heartburn drug she requested. It was when they both went to a closet to get the medicine that he suddenly made the sexual advances toward her, she has testified.
After the medical board suspended his license, Baez underwent his first board-ordered psychosexual evaluation. Examiners found that Baez withheld "relevant information" and recommended that his suspension continue.
After an administrative hearing this summer, a civil judge recommended that Baez's suspension continue until after he completed another psychosexual evaluation. But at a medical board meeting to consider that finding last week, the board decided to lift the suspension and allow Baez to resume practicing medicine, with a female "chaperone" present to monitor all interactions with female patients.
If the evaluation finds no need for continued monitoring, Baez's probation may be terminated, board documents say.
Baez, who is board-certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology, has no previous disciplinary actions and no criminal record. He earned his medical degree in Mexico in 1990 and has practiced in Arizona since 2002.
Baez was not at his Tucson office on Tuesday, and has not yet started seeing patients again, but he is expected to "very soon," his attorney said.
