By Sherrel Henry

Staff writer

A civil lawsuit has been filed in Sequoyah County District Court against a local doctor who allegedly asked a patient to have sex with him in exchange for appointment fees and over prescribing pain medicines to her.

Dr. Robert L. Kale, with Urgent Care of Roland, will no longer be practicing medicine in Oklahoma after the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision revoked his medical license during a hearing held Tuesday.

Kale lost his license after sufficient evidence was presented to the Medical Board showing Kale had engaged in inappropriate behavior with a female patient along with other patients.

A nine-page complaint filed on Oct. 16 with the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision names 14 misconduct allegations against Kale for inappropriate behavior.

Kale is accused of asking the woman between eight to 10 times if she would have sex with him in exchange for appointment fees, calling the proposition a “legitimate business transaction.”

According to the medical board, Kale made numerous sexually inappropriate remarks to the woman while acting in a sexually explicit and demeaning behavior at the same time he was maintaining a doctor-patient relationship and prescribing controlled dangerous substances and other dangerous drugs to the woman.

Elizabeth A. Scott, assistant attorney general and attorney for the state board, reported Kale was questioned about the remarks and comments he was allegedly making to the woman but denied doing so. The woman was asked to wear a wire in order to get the doctor on audiotape.

“This woman did not come to us with this complaint,” Scott said. “We found out about what was going on from someone else and we went to her and asked her to wear a wire.”

According to Scott, prior to playing the audiotape for the doctor, he was asked a question concerning his behavior with the woman, first denying any wrong doing and then stated he couldn’t remember. It was after hearing the audiotape recording that Kale allegedly stated to the Board that he “was only joking with the woman.”

“You could clearly hear what he was saying on the tape,” Scott said. “It wasn’t a joke.”

Other misconduct allegations leading to the doctor’s state license being revoked include failing to maintain office records of patients, prescribing or administering drug treatment without sufficient examination, and prescribing and dispensing or administering controlled substances in excess of the amount considered good medical practice.

“We found instances where he didn’t even examine a patient before prescribing medication,” Scott said.

The board found Kale guilty of seven of the allegations, including using inappropriate behavior with Needham.

“Patients of Kale’s will need to get their medical records and find another doctor,” Scott said.

“Any prescriptions signed before the 26th can be filled but he can not write any more prescriptions.”

Scott said Kale is also licensed in the state of Arkansas but Scott expects that license to also be revoked.

Civil Case Filed

Tonya Needham is a former patient who filed the suit against Kale on Oct. 29 in Sequoyah County District Court in Sallisaw. Needham is seeking damages while claiming during numerous visits with the doctor she endured several instances of sexual misconduct.

In the petition for the civil suit, Needham claimed that from the summer of 2007 until the summer of 2008 she saw Kale for pain 10 times. The court document says that on the sixth time Kale breached medical ethic standards by soliciting sex with Needham. Needham refused but continued the relationship out of need for pain medication according to the court petition.

“These types of folks are very vulnerable. They have got to have pain medication to live so it makes them more susceptible,” Needham’s attorney Dan George of Sallisaw said.