A former Island doctor who voluntarily resigned his license to practice after an allegation that he inappropriately touched a patient is facing criminal charges in an unrelated case involving alleged inappropriate touching, according to the Edgartown police.
Peter Laursen, 70, of Vineyard Haven, who had been on the staff at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, was arraigned Friday in Edgartown District Court on charges of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over and indecent assault and battery on a person 60 or over, police said. He was released after posting $500 cash bail and ordered to stay away from the victims, as well as Camp Jabberwocky.
Reached at his home, Dr. Laursen wondered aloud why his arrest is news. “This is just going to make me feel worse. I’m not a prominent person. I’m retired,” he said. “It’s bad enough I’m going to appear in court.”
Police said the incident happened on Saturday, July 30, at the Field Club in Katama where a fundraising event was taking place for Camp Jabberwocky, an overnight camp for children with disabilities. The allegations did not involve campers, police said.
Jaberwocky staff members approached camp director Liza Gallagher during and after the fundraising event to tell her they were uncomfortable with the behavior of one of the attendees later identified as Dr. Laursen. “The behavior described was of inappropriate touching incidents during the event on the dance floor and in the silent auction table area,” police wrote in a press release.
A woman who answered the phone at the camp referred questions to Ms. Gallagher who she said is away on a week’s vacation and unavailable.
In May, the Board of Registration in Medicine announced that Dr. Laursen had permanently surrendered his license as part of disciplinary action against him. The Times received a redacted six-page disciplinary report through a public records request that indicated a patient complained that during an examination, the doctor “rubbed her back and touched her buttocks.” Dr. Laursen denied the allegation, according to the report.
“I thought that was 99 percent wrong,” he said of that investigation. “That’s never gone anywhere. After 41 years in practice, now I’m retired, I never had a malpractice suit and never had a complaint.”
In June of 2011, Dr. Laursen abruptly removed himself from the hospital rotation and took temporary leave for a nonmedical reason, according to Times archives.
Dr. Laursen asked that if The Times were to do a story on his arrest that he be given a chance to send a message to his patients. “I would like to use this opportunity to thank multiple patients who had trust in me over 41 years. It’s the patients I miss the most,” he told The Times. “I have learned as much from my patients as they have from me.”
