JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — (Note: The video above is from a previous report.)
A 51-year-old Jacksonville doctor is guilty of exposing himself during a 2017 medical exam of a male patient following a one-day trial, according to Duval County court records.
Om Parkash Kapoor, who was acquitted of a second battery charge, is now in jail awaiting sentencing on Sept. 22. He still faces a separate trial in his Aug. 7, 2020, sexual-battery arrest.
Kapoor was initially arrested Dec. 20, 2017, on charges of battery and indecent exposure, according to his Sheriff's Office arrest report. The 2017 charges were followed by a 12-page lawsuit filed in late 2019 by the victim on the same case, court records show.
The patient was in the doctor's office for a Dec. 14, 2017, follow-up appointment for Lyme disease. Identified as “M.V.,” he was naked on the examination table as he was examined for new tick bites, the lawsuit said.
“During this exam, M.V. heard Kapoor moaning and then felt a wet substance hit the back of his leg,” according to the lawsuit. “When he turned around, he saw Kapoor masturbating.”
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The doctor cleaned up with a napkin and threw it away before leaving the room, the lawsuit said. But the patient retrieved the napkin, put it in a bag and took it to the Sheriff’s Office. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed what was in the napkin was Kapoor’s semen, and he was arrested six days later.
The lawsuit also cites an almost identical incident in 2012 while Kapoor was employed at Baptist Infectious Disease Consultants. Hospital officials said the 2012 complaint was reported to police and the Department of Health, and he was permitted to continue to practice in Florida without restriction. The 2017 complaint was "investigated and addressed, which ultimately led to Dr. Kapoor’s resignation in 2018," the hospital said at the time.
Meanwhile, pretrial hearings and depositions continue in Kapoor's sexual-battery case from 2020. The redacted arrest report says he turned himself in on a warrant for the charge, listing the offense location as his Hickory Trace Lane home.
The warrant indicates the victim was young and was spending the night there about four years prior. The victim was sleeping in a bedroom when someone walked in, took off sweatpants, then got in bed before the sexual assault occurred, according to the warrant. The victim reported the incident to his mother and a counselor last year.
Kapoor's lawsuit has not been settled. And according to his practitioner profile on the Department of Health website, his license remains active but with an emergency restriction.
That February 2018 restriction states that Kapoor's conduct "was so brazen and with such a wanton disregard for the laws and rules regulating the practice of medicine" that any male patient in his examination room was in danger of harm. The restriction, still in effect, prohibits Kapoor from treating or even interacting with male patients without a licensed health care professional present at all times.
dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549
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