Judge orders state to restore medical license of Evansville doctor accused of groping

EVANSVILLE – A judge has ordered the state to restore the medical license of an Evansville doctor who had been accused of groping multiple patients against their will.

In a ruling issued May 6 in a civil suit filed by James E. Jenison against the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana, Marion County Superior Court Judge Patrick Dietrick directed the board to “rescind the revocation imposed” and restore Jenison’s license “immediately.”

The board terminated Jenison’s license in January 2023 after five women filed formal complaints against him. Four alleged he inappropriately cupped or touched their breasts during exams, while a fifth said he inserted something – "likely a finger" – into her rectum and made comments about anal sex.

Jenison, 67, denied the allegations. He was never charged with a crime.

Despite the women's testimony, Dietrick wrote in his ruling that “the MLB’s decision to permanently revoke Dr. Jenison’s license is arbitrary and capricious and not supported by substantial evidence and should be reversed.”

He agreed with Jenison’s claims that any touching was either inadvertent or part of the exam, ruling there was no proof the contact was done in a “lewd or immoral way."

According to a previous report from the board, investigators had been looking into potential sexual battery charges against Jenison, but some of the women didn't wish to move forward with the investigation.

The women’s “interpretation” of the touching, Dietrick claimed, “cannot be equated with Dr. Jenison’s intent.”

“(Jenison’s) testimony was unrebutted from a medical standpoint,” Dietrick wrote. “And a patient’s subjective interpretation of the medical value, on its face, is factually insufficient to justify the (board’s) conclusion without some form of professional rebuttal.”

On Monday, the Courier & Press left a voice message at Jenison’s practice, Direct Patient Care of Evansville, but never heard back. As of Wednesday morning, state records still listed Jenison’s medical license as “revoked.”

A spokesperson with the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency didn’t respond to a request for comment. Josh DeFonce, a spokesperson with the attorney general’s office, said they are “reviewing the decision and ascertaining next steps.”

When it came to whether Jenison’s license had indeed been reinstated, he referred a reporter to the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency.

The complaints against James Jenison

According to court records, the complaints against Jenison first surfaced in June 2019, after a patient spoke to an Evansville Police Department detective at Holly’s House.

She felt Jenison had touched her breasts “with sexual intentions” during an exam earlier that month. Jenison had recommended a “myofascial procedure” in which a doctor rubs a person’s shoulders and back and applies pressure to painful or tender spots to relieve pressure. Jenison also sometimes used a Theragun massaging tool.

In order to brace himself and apply pressure, Jenison would sometimes stand behind the patient and place his hands on their chest, court records state.

Jenison sometimes asked women to remove their bras during the procedure, saying the lotion he used could stain their clothes. According to the ruling, another patient testifying in support of Jenison said the doctor occasionally removed the bras himself if the patients asked him to.

A day after fielding the complaint, the EPD detective visited Jenison at his office. Jenison denied touching the patient inappropriately, saying he thought she could benefit from the Theragun. No charges were filed.

After the allegations surfaced, St. Vincent launched an investigation and subsequently suspended Jenison around June 28, 2019, an attorney general complaint obtained by the Courier & Press stated. A little more than two weeks later, state records say, they offered him the chance to resign. He did, and eventually opened Direct Patient Care of Evansville.

Despite not pursuing criminal charges, EPD filed a consumer complaint with the attorney general’s office in July 2019. And about two months later, another woman came forward and accused Jenison of touching her inappropriately.

In August 2021, the Courier & Press reported on the allegations. According to court records, three other women subsequently came forward with similar complaints against Jenison. All the women either testified or provided affidavits at the January 2023 hearing, the meeting's minutes show.

That meeting also included testimony in support of Jenison from former patients, co-workers, and a St. Vincent physician. They described him as a caring doctor.

The board ultimately voted to revoke Jenison’s license, ruling he touched the women inappropriately and that his conduct violated Indiana law.

Dietrick’s ruling disputed that. He repeatedly questioned the women’s claims, saying the attorney general’s office failed to present sufficient evidence to back them up. He mentioned that one of the women wrote in her complaint that she didn't want to “ruin someone’s career over something that may or may not have possibly happened.”

The ruling also quotes online patient portal comments and Jenison's own notes.

“If Dr. Jenison had intended to touch (two of the women) in a lewd or immoral way, it certainly does not seem that he would have documented the procedure in their chart,” Dietrick wrote.

Prescription license

Dietrick also criticized the board for suspending Jenison’s license to issue prescriptions.

According to the ruling, Jenison had let that license, known as a controlled substance registration license, lapse after he failed to update it when he went to renew his medical license in 2021. He claimed he didn’t know he had to renew the two separately.

Jenison said he never received notice the license had expired, so he continued to write prescriptions. As soon as he found out, he stopped issuing scripts and filled out a renewal form, but answered “no” to a question asking “has there been an occasion where you have not been in complete compliance with all state and local laws pertaining to controlled substances?”

Both Jenison and the judge chalked the answer up to a misunderstanding, and Dietrick said the state failed to prove that Jenison knowingly committed any offense. As of Tuesday, that license was still listed as suspended in state records.

The Medical Licensing Board’s next meeting is slated for Thursday. There is no mention of Jenison on the agenda.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Judge says state should reinstate accused Evansville doctor's license