Last month, the Board of Registration in Medicine announced that Dr. Peter Laursen, longtime primary care physician and family practitioner at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital (MVH), had permanently resigned his license to practice medicine as part of a disciplinary action against him.
On Tuesday, responding to a Public Records Request, Gerard F. Dolan, assistant general counsel for the Board of Registration in Medicine, provided The Times with a redacted six-page healthcare facility disciplinary report, which described the incident that led to Dr. Laursen’s license forfeiture.
“In December 2016, following an investigation by the MVH Medical Executive Committee, into a patient complaint alleging inappropriate touching, Dr. Laursen, who previously had been thinking of resigning, elected to resign from the MVH medical staff. The patient alleged that during the examination, Dr. Laursen rubbed her back and touched her buttocks. Dr. Laursen denied the allegation.”
Mr. Laursen, 70, had practiced at MVH since 1977.
There are no criminal investigations into the matter, according to Oak Bluffs Police Department spokesman Lieutenant Tim Williamson.
In June 2011, amid a flurry of rumors, Dr. Laursen abruptly removed himself from the hospital rotation and took temporary leave for a nonmedical reason. Dr. Laursen did not respond to a message with a woman who answered the telephone at his home.