A Kentucky doctor accused of touching female patients inappropriately has surrendered his license to practice medicine in the state.
Dr. James J. Blake accepted an offer to give up his license in lieu of having the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure issue a complaint and emergency order of suspension, according to an order released by the board.
According to the order, Blake’s specialty is emergency medicine. The order listed a Richmond address for him.
In 2020, a woman reported that Blake had examined her legs and feet after she had been given morphine in the emergency department at St. Joseph Hospital in Berea, then touched her breast and put her hand on his groin, according to the order.
The woman, identified as Patient A in the order, tried to move her hand but Blake wouldn’t let her, the order said.
Blake allegedly told the woman “this is just between her and him and that it felt good.”
After the woman had been given a second dose of morphine, Blake allegedly came back three more times, closed the curtain around the bed and touched her, the order said.
The woman reported the alleged sexual assault to the Kentucky State Police.
Blake said in response that he believed the woman became unsatisfied because she had been given morphine instead of the more powerful Dilaudid, and because she didn’t receive a pain shot before she was discharged or a prescription for a narcotic painkiller.
The hospital said the grievance was outside the scope of its complaint committee, and the state declined to prosecute, according to the KBML order.
On May 1, 2023, a woman identified as Patient B told St. Joseph in Berea that Blake had held her hand and put it on his genital area in the emergency room the day before.
The hospital could not substantiate the complaint and turned it over to Adult Protective Services to look into, the order said.
In August 2023, another woman, Patient C, told the hospital that when she was a patient in the emergency room the month before, Blake “massaged her hand and then made her feel and rub up and down” his genitals, according to the board order.
The hospital opened an investigation.
Staffers said Blake routinely went in examination rooms without other hospital employees, and that he had been in Patient C’s room with the door closed, according to the KBML order.
St. Joseph suspended Blake’s privileges and reported the allegation to Adult Protective Services, and soon after Blake’s employer, the Lexington Clinic, fired him, according to the order.
In September 2023, a fourth woman, Patient D, told the hospital that a year earlier when she was in the emergency room at the Berea hospital, Blake took her hand and rubbed it up and down on himself.
St. Joseph revoked Blake’s privilege to practice at the hospital, which led to an investigation by the KBML.
During that inquiry, Patient B said Blake came into her hospital room late at night, rubbed her arm and then put her hand on his genitals.
Patient C said Blake stood beside her hospital bed, rubbed her arm and then placed her had on him and rubbed it up and down.
The woman told a board investigator she told Blake to stop but he didn’t.
Patient D said during the investigation that Blake placed her hand on himself and rubbed it up and down. She said she told him to stop but he continued for a couple of minutes, according to the board order.
In a response to the board, Blake denied the claims by Patient C and said he believed she was unsatisfied because he told her she wasn’t going to get any more pain medication or benzodiazepines, which are drugs used to treat anxiety, muscle spasms and seizures.
Blake did not address the complaints from Patients B or D in that response, but in an appearance before the licensure board, he characterized the women as drug seekers, according to the board order.
Blake told the board he had retired from practicing medicine in September 2023, but wanted to keep his license so he could provide volunteer medical services.
The board instead gave him the option to give up his license without facing a formal complaint.
The board released the order last week.
Source Agencies
