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Jackson, Wyoming doctor's license revoked
CHEYENNE, Wyoming -- The Wyoming Board of Medicine has revoked the license of former Jackson, Wyoming family practitioner Ronald L. Gooder on allegations that he had sexual relationships with two patients, used drugs with them, and wrongfully treated and prescribed drugs for a third. After a hearing in Jackson, Wyoming in June, a hearing panel found "clear and convincing evidence" that Gooder violated six Wyoming state laws regulating doctors. The violations included two counts of sexually exploiting patients, three counts of negligence or malpractice in treating and prescribing drugs for patients, and one count of unprofessional or dishonorable conduct by using controlled substances. On Aug. 13, the Wyoming Board of Medicine formally adopted the hearing panel's recommendation that Gooder's license be revoked and that he pay a $5,000 fine and half the costs of the hearing. Gooder closed his practice in Jackson, Wyoming in August 2002 and has since moved to Casper, Wyoming where the only medical work he has done has been administering paramedical examinations for insurance companies. One patient, referred to in Board of Medicine documents as Patient A, testified that she was a patient of Gooder's from 1987 to 2002. The documents state that she said she lived with Gooder in Wyoming for six months during that period, during which time they had "sexual relations" on two occasions. "On one such occasion, (Gooder) had supplied the drug ecstasy to her and then took her into his bedroom and had sex with her while she was under the influence of such drug," the board's documents state. The Wyoming woman testified that she and Gooder smoked marijuana about every other night while they lived together. Another Wyoming witness, Patient B, testified that she became Gooder's patient in spring 2000 for arthritis treatment. The Wyoming documents state that the woman said she and Gooder started dating in February 2001, had a sexual relationship, and smoked marijuana together. She became Gooder's employee in March 2002 for about six months. Regarding the third patient, Patient C, also a female, Gooder "failed to make and maintain a record of the care he provided for her and the prescribing of controlled substances for her," the Wyoming documents state. Gooder, a Casper, Wyoming native, got his license to practice medicine in Wyoming in 1981 after graduating in 1978 from the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco and completing an internship and residency in family practice at St. Michael Hospital in Milwaukee. |
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