Dispatch investigation of doctor sexual misconduct topic of Columbus Conversation

Patrick Flaherty and Max Filby, The Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
The Columbus Conversation group was designed as a platform for conversations that move our communities, state, and nation forward.
The Columbus Conversation group was designed as a platform for conversations that move our communities, state, and nation forward.

A Columbus Dispatch investigation has revealed the scope of doctor sexual abuse and harassment across Ohio for the first time. The Preying on Patients series, which uncovered hundreds of Ohio doctors disciplined for sexual misconduct, will be the subject of a Columbus Conversation this evening.

Reporters found the state medical board for years didn't do enough to warn and protect the public from serial sexual abusers and harassers despite a decades-long history of doctors preying on patients. The medical board's investigations have been shrouded in secrecy with just a fraction of the allegations ever being made public.

Those topics and more will be the focus of the latest Columbus Conversation.

Guests will include State Medical Board of Ohio executive director Stephanie Loucka. Loucka was named medical board director in 2019 following the emergence of the Strauss scandal.

In her time leading the board, Loucka has implemented several internal changes and is working with state legislators to craft broader reform.

Attorney Konrad Kircher, who has represented patients abused by doctors in court.
Attorney Konrad Kircher, who has represented patients abused by doctors in court.

Cincinnati-based attorney Konrad Kircher will also join the conversation.

Kircher has represented patients who have accused their doctors of sexual misconduct in civil court. He is an advocate for widening the Ohio statute of limitations in regards to sexual abuse.

Kircher has also represented victims abused by Catholic priests in Ohio.

Paula Reichelderfer, a patient who accused Dr. Ray Carroll of sexually abusing her when she was 5 years old.
Paula Reichelderfer, a patient who accused Dr. Ray Carroll of sexually abusing her when she was 5 years old.

Paula Reichelderfer will be another member of the panel. Reichelderfer said she was abused by the late Dr. Ray Carroll when she was 5-years-old during an exam. Carroll, a longtime Pickaway County coroner and Circleville-base doctor, had his license revoked hear the end of his medical career following accusaitons from several women.

Joining the panel will be Dispatch reporters Max Filby, Mike Wagner and Jennifer Smola Shaffer. Dispatch opinion and community engagement editor Amelia Robinson will host and moderate the discussion.

You can watch the live stream of this discussion live at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9 on Dispatch.com, at The Columbus Dispatch's Facebook page and on The Dispatch Youtube page.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Doctor sexual misconduct subject of next Columbus Conversation