A former Cleveland Clinic surgeon for whom the health system allegedly obscured allegations of sexual misconduct said he was "horrified" to learn his identical twin brother, also a physician, faces similar accusations of sexual assault in Maryland, cleveland.com reports.
Earlier this month, USA Today reported Cleveland Clinic privately settled one of at least two sexual assault complaints against Ryan Williams, MD, in 2008, and kept him on staff until he chose to leave the institution in mid-2017 for reasons unrelated to the alleged sexual assaults. He reportedly accepted a position at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. OSU Wexner Medical Center placed Dr. Ryan Williams on leave in December in response to USA Today's investigation.
Dr. Ryan Williams was not formally charged with a crime, and his Ohio medical license is listed as active. There are no current or previous state medical board disciplinary actions listed against him, according to cleveland.com.
Dr. Ryan Williams told cleveland.com he has been "essentially estranged" from his twin brother, Bryan Williams, MD, for at least five years and has not maintained any meaningful contact with him. He told the publication he learned of the accusations against his twin from friends that live near his brother.
Dr. Bryan Williams, a former anesthesiologist and pain management specialist with Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, had his Maryland medical license permanently revoked last month following allegations of sexual misconduct by at least seven patients, according to cleveland.com. His medical licenses for Virginia and Washington, D.C., have also been suspended.
The Maryland Board of Physicians concluded during a December hearing Dr. Bryan Williams sexually violated four of the seven patients who issued complaints, according to the report. Dr. Bryan Williams denied all allegations during the hearing and asked to have his license suspended instead of permanently revoked.
While no criminal charges have been filed against Dr. Bryan Williams, he and his former employer Kaiser Permanente have been named in multiple malpractice lawsuits. The lawsuits allege Kaiser allowed Dr. Bryan Williams to remain on staff despite being made aware of at least one allegation of sexual misconduct. Kaiser fired Dr. Bryan Williams in 2014, according to cleveland.com.
A spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente told Becker's Hospital Review via email Wednesday, "The safety of our patients is our highest priority, and we have no tolerance for behavior that puts our patients at risk. We take allegations of misconduct very seriously, and we take action to protect our patients. In this case, we terminated the physician and reported him to the physician licensing boards in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. We have also reached out to each person who has raised allegations against Dr. [Bryan] Williams and sought to address their concerns."
To read the full cleveland.com report, click here.