A doctor who got into trouble for sexting at work will be called before the Florida Board of Medicine on Friday to explain why he should be allowed to keep practicing.
Dr. Tuan Kishfran Imran Dean, a family practitioner in The Villages, was working at a Doctor Today walk-in clinic in Lakeland when he displayed inappropriate conduct in August 2011, according to Department of Health records.
The focus of Dean’s interest was a 29-year-old woman, a Medicaid patient who came to one of the Doctor Today clinics in Lakeland for a prescription refill and a couple of minor ailments. Records do not identify her beyond her initials, E.S.
According to the report filed in December 2012 by DOH investigator Jeanine Shaffer, E.S. said Dean behaved strangely while examining her, including maintaining eye contact while performing a pelvic exam.
That night, she told authorities she received the first of several texts from Dean that to her seemed overly personal. When she questioned whether it was ethical, since he was her doctor, his texts became vulgar, according to the state report.
At one point E.S. went to police to report Dean, but she said they told her it was a civil, not criminal matter. E.S. backed up the texts and additional materials Dean sent to her computer, including a photo and five videos in which Dean is “pleasuring himself,” as the report puts it.
E.S. turned them over to her attorney, Kimberly Hosley of Orlando, who passed them on to Shaffer, the DOH investigator.
The administrative complaint against Dean alleges he engaged in sexual misconduct, an abuse of his professional position. DOH prosecutors and Dean’s attorney, identified in state records as Michael L. Smith of Altamonte Springs, worked out an agreement that would settle the case, if the Board of Medicine accepts it.
In the proposed settlement, Dean neither admits nor denies wrongdoing. But he agrees to accept discipline including a reprimand; a $10,000 fine; participating in courses on rules and ethics; a requirement that a female health professional be in the room whenever Dean sees a female patient; and compliance with the PRN program, which monitors professionals who have harmed themselves or others because of mental illness or addiction. PRN, a contractor, is to blow the whistle if a practitioner breaches the agreement.
The complaint that led to the investigation was filed by Dr. Rekha Issar, who had employed Dean at the Lakeland clinic, after she was contacted by E.S. and attorney Hosley. Dr. Issar told DOH that by the time she heard about the problem, Dean had already moved on to another job, the report shows.
Dean is currently practicing with TriCounty Physicians in The Villages, according to the practice’s website.
Shaffer also spoke with a medical assistant who had worked at the Doctor Today clinic with Dean. The assistant, Brenda Medina, said she never saw Dean display inappropriate behavior, the report says.
--Health News Florida is part of WUSF Public Media. Contact Editor Carol Gentry at 813-974-8629 (desk) or e-mail at cgentry@wusf.org. For more health news, visit HealthNewsFlorida.org.
