A federal jury has found a former Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center doctor guilty of groping a female patient during exams between 2019 and 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dr. Rajesh Motibhai Patel, 69, of Lilburn, was convicted Tuesday of violating a patient’s constitutional right to bodily integrity while acting under color of law and for engaging in unwanted sexual contact, the justice department said.
He had previously been indicted on charges of sexually assaulting four of his female patients during routine exams but was acquitted of charges related to three victims.
“Dr. Patel violated the cardinal rule of a physician to do no harm to patients under his care,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement. “Veterans who consulted him for treatment, like the victim in this case, trusted Dr. Patel, and he violated that trust.”
“His conviction hopefully provides a measure of healing for those impacted by his crimes,” Buchanan added.
Patel will be sentenced Feb. 20. He had been a primary care physician at the VA medical center in Decatur since 2015.
“As soon as (the) VA learned of these allegations last year, we removed this clinician from patient care pending the results of the investigation. He was then fired in February of this year,” a spokesperson said in a Wednesday email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In a separate statement, Michael J. Missal, inspector general for the VA, said employees “are entrusted with keeping our nation’s veterans safe while receiving care.“
He added: “Acts of violence against veterans in VA facilities are reprehensible and shatters that trust. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold anyone who would commit these crimes accountable.”
