The assault case against a municipal chief medical officer in Trøndelag is growing. The man has been suspended by the municipality and charged by the police for abusing his position to obtain sexual intercourse. The police have searched the man’s home and doctor’s office, and have held talks with several people who are said to be involved. The case is growing every day, says investigative leader Ellen Mari Burheim to news. – We get new names every day that we should contact and who are likely to have a role in the case. The doctor denies criminal responsibility. Said she wasn’t the only one August 2017. The county governor received a complaint about the municipal superintendent and GP who are now accused of abuse. The complainant was one of his female patients. In the complaint, she explained that she went to the doctor to check a lump on her wrist. During the doctor’s appointment, the man is said to have taken her down the back, on the bottom and the thigh. He is also said to have commented on her body as well-trained and that “it was felt and this was good”. “I felt violated and harassed during this doctor’s appointment, and on the grounds that it is not relevant, I feel that this is to make the patient feel bad. In addition to this, such comments are not professional in my eyes”. In the complaint, the woman wrote that she had been going to another doctor for a long time. This is because several of her acquaintances are said to have had “unpleasant experiences” with him. “I can safely say that I am not the only one who has felt uncomfortable after visiting this GP”. news has previously written about one of the women in the case complex who claims to have been subjected to abuse regularly for six years. The doctor was given responsibility for talking to the woman Five days after the County Governor received the complaint, they opened a so-called “local clarification case” against the doctor: “The supervisory authorities see local clarification as an appropriate approach in cases where the County Governor perceives that things have not been optimally handled, but where a conversation can clarify the questions that this patient is left with after the mentioned doctor’s appointment”. The county governor further wrote that they assumed that the “inquiry” from the female patient should be used in the work to ensure proper services for the patients in the future. At the same time, they requested the doctor to have a “clarifying conversation” with the woman. In addition, they asked him to send a statement after the conversation. If the conversation had progressed, the County Commissioner would close the supervision case. Listening to the doctor – closed the case A couple of weeks after the woman sent in the complaint, she was called to the meeting with the doctor, who she complained had molested her. The doctor explained this in his letter to the County Governor a few days later. The meeting was called a “clarification meeting”, where the purpose was to provide information and open up questions from the patient. In the meeting, the doctor must have explained the examination he had carried out on the woman. He wrote to the County Commissioner that the woman “seemed to take the information given in the meeting into account”. He further wrote: “A kind of joint conclusion was that pas (the patient’s ed. note) negative experience of the situation could perhaps have been avoided if more information had been provided along the way. The undersigned described that precisely such a complaint/meeting can help to make people more aware of this in the future.’ Six days after the County Commissioner received the doctor’s letter, they closed the local clarification case. The reason for that was the letter the doctor had written. The county governor thought his explanation was enough to close the case. The woman did not receive the letter from the doctor before the case was closed. This was not the first case against the doctor. news can tell about the content of complaints from 16 years ago. This complaint ended with the woman being called in to a meeting with the doctor she believed had been treating her. She refers to herself as a girl, but news has not received information that there are minors involved. Photo: Nareas Sae-Khow / news Clitoral massage January and February 2006. The Norwegian Health Authority received a call from a doctor at a hospital in Trøndelag. The doctor was worried after having three female patients for gynecological examinations. The women, who had the same GP, had told the hospital doctor about non-traditional gynecological examinations. The women said that their GP had offered clitoral massage because of “hymen glands” in the abdomen. A joint written report of concern was sent to the Norwegian Health Authority about the experiences of the three patients. This is revealed in documents that news has been given access to. The Norwegian Health Authority opened an inspection case at the time. In a letter to the doctor dated March 2007, the Norwegian Health Authority wrote, among other things: “They should have referred to it as hymen glands/virgin disease, because it could become like this if they were not emptied during sexual intercourse. (…) The condition could be treated by rubbing/milking the glands at the same time as preparing the body to think it was going to be sexual intercourse”. Ended with a warning The one woman is said to have refused the massage when she understood what it entailed, according to the letter. About one of the other women, the Norwegian Health Authority writes this: “According to the patient, you must then have started massaging the glands to give the illusion of sexual activity in order to empty the “glands”. They allegedly did this in such a way that she became sexually aroused. She should therefore have asked you to stop, but you should have said that she could hold out for another 10 seconds before you stopped. They must have informed that this was a “German method”. The doctor denied both that he performed clitoral massage and that he recommended exposure to the clitoris as treatment. He stands by it today. – I can only say that he does not agree with the representation that has been given, and that nothing wrong happened, says lawyer Karl Bjørnar Olsen. He assists the doctor in the appeal case about the suspension. The conclusion from the Norwegian Health Authority was to give the doctor a warning. Timeline: Accusations against the municipal superintendent over several years. It was to treat and empty “hymen glands” she allegedly had in her abdomen. Two other women told similar stories. news is sitting on information about a woman who claims to have been subjected to many abuses by the municipal superintendent from 2014 until 2022. According to the woman, there should be a dozen abuses in this period. Some of the assaults are said to have taken place after working hours at the office of the municipal superintendent. news is aware that the woman has told her story to the police. A woman felt harassed and violated during a doctor’s appointment. The patient went to the doctor to check the wrist, but is said to have been felt on the bottom. She sent a complaint about the doctor to the then County Governor – who believed that the matter should be resolved through a so-called local clarification. The doctor had a meeting with the woman and then the County Governor closed the case. news is aware that at least 12 complaints against the doctor have been received by the State Administrator since November 2021. On 1 August it became known that the Norwegian Health Inspectorate has temporarily suspended the doctor’s authorization. news is aware that the police have received at least 10 inquiries about the doctor. On 24 August it became known that he has been charged under section 295 of the Criminal Code, for abusing his position to obtain sexual intercourse. Show more A way to resolve simpler complaints County medical examiner Jan Vaage says it is easy to have hindsight in the case. He admits that several things could have been done differently by the supervisory authorities. – Why was the doctor asked to sort things out himself, through “local clarification”? – For a long time, this has been a way of resolving a number of simpler complaints. Where healthcare personnel can give in-depth content to the investigation, to clarify what the purpose was, says Vaage and continues: – But I see, especially with what we know today, that it is easy to imagine that it would have been natural to establish a supervisory case at the time. The county doctor nevertheless believes that the result would not necessarily have been different. He points out that the County Governor was fully aware of the warning from 2007 when the 2017 case came. Unsure of the assessments that were made – In the complaint from 2017, the woman said that she could “safely say that I am not the only one who has felt uncomfortable after a visit to this GP”. In what way was this followed up? – It is one of the elements that makes me think that it would have been wise to institute a supervision case after all. But as I said, it is difficult to see in retrospect exactly what was assessed at the time. Getting a warning is basically not a decision that leads to any further follow-up, explains the county doctor. – That was probably the basis for the assessment that was made in 2017. But then one can think in retrospect whether this was sensible. Understands the reactions Department director Anne Myhr at the Norwegian Health Authority understands that people react to what has come to light in the case. – Why was a warning enough in the 2006/2007 complaints? – We have reviewed the case that dealt with the complaints in 2006/2007, and see that at that time no sufficient basis was found to give a stricter reaction than a warning. The decision was made based on what was then existing legislation and practice. – The supervisory authorities have long known about the complaints against the doctor, how could he be allowed to continue? – We understand that this creates reactions given the information that has now come to light. As long as no grounds have been found for depriving a doctor of his authorisation, however, the doctor has the opportunity to continue. Will look into whether they could have done something differently According to the Norwegian Health Authority, current legislation allows for a greater extent to follow up such cases. – The doctor’s authorization was suspended when the case was forwarded from the state administrator to the Norwegian Health Authority. The suspension ensures that the doctor cannot continue while the case is being processed, says Myhr. When the Norwegian Health Authority has been fully informed of the matter, they will assess whether the doctor must be stripped of his position and authorisation. – The police say the case is growing every day. Could the National Health Service have acted differently several years ago, to avoid that it has now become a serious matter? – We register that there are now more complaints from other patients, and these complaints are included in our case management. Assessing decisions in supervisory cases retrospectively is demanding, and can be influenced by information that has come after the assessments and the decision in the case, says Myhr and continues: – The previous case will be included in the assessment we will now make, and that will be natural also to assess whether we could have acted differently in this case within the framework that followed from regulations and current practice at the time. She emphasizes that the National Health Inspectorate has recently reviewed all inspection cases over a ten-year period that deal with cross-border sexual acts. – We have adjusted practice in line with these findings and assessments.
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Woman warned of a larger scale already in 2017. The county governor did not investigate – news Trøndelag
