Gaps in Illinois Oversight Let Accused Health Providers Keep Treating Patients, Tribune Investigation Finds

Doctors and other health care providers accused of sexual misconduct by patients have kept working, in some cases for years, because of gaps in Illinois law and a state licensing agency that can be slow to act, a Chicago Tribune investigation has found. Some of those providers went on to harm more patients while their licenses remained in good standing with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

State law requires hospital officials who learn of abuse allegations to act to protect patients. The Tribune found, however, that providers working outside hospitals could operate largely unchecked until they faced criminal charges. Police and prosecutors are not required to tell the licensing agency about investigations into health care providers, only about certain criminal charges.

The agency itself sometimes took years to discipline providers. It did not act against one nurse's license for more than two years after learning he had been fired from a hospital over allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior. He later faced criminal sexual abuse charges after a woman alleged he assaulted her during in-home care. In another case, the agency waited more than two years after a chiropractor was found guilty of battery over sexual contact with a patient before suspending his license, and it blamed the delay partly on his failure to report the outcome of his criminal case.

Patients also have limited ways to learn about a provider's history. Illinois does not require providers to disclose that they are under police investigation or, in many cases, that the state has disciplined them. The agency's license lookup website often explains discipline in a line or two, using phrases such as "inappropriate conduct" and "boundary violations." Other states go further: California requires doctors on probation for sexual misconduct to notify patients, and Kentucky and Iowa post disciplinary documents online that detail the accusations.

The case of Dr. Haohua Yang, an internist with his own practice in Yorkville, illustrates the gaps. After patients reported him to police in 2012 and in January 2014, he continued seeing patients, alone in exam rooms, until his arrest in mid-December 2014, about two and a half years after the first complaint. A hospital would have had to report such allegations to the Illinois Department of Public Health, but that rule did not apply to his independent practice. The licensing agency said it had no record of knowing about the allegations at the time.

Prosecutors eventually brought criminal sexual abuse and sexual assault charges involving 17 patients. In January 2017, a judge acquitted Yang of assaulting one woman, finding that sexual penetration had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. That November, Yang pleaded guilty to three counts of felony aggravated battery involving other patients, the remaining charges were dismissed, and he received 180 days in jail and a year of probation. His license was revoked after the conviction. "I'm completely innocent," Yang told the Tribune, declining further comment.

The agency suspended Yang's license on Dec. 17, 2014, a day after formal charges were filed and two days after Yorkville police alerted it. In the interim, a grandmother told police, she took her granddaughter, a minor, to Yang for a school sports physical and described improper touching. An agency spokesperson, Chris Slaby, said it is not feasible to gather enough evidence for a summary suspension in two days, and that chaperone orders can be issued only after criminal charges. Lisa Eller, 59, a former patient, said the experience has left her unable to trust doctors despite advanced emphysema.

The nurse, Thomas Trunk, was fired by Rush University Medical Center in August 2016 after a patient complained, and Rush reported the firing to the agency on Sept. 13. No public action followed, and within about three months he was working for Advocate Health Care's home care division. Advocate said it found no discipline on his record. A patient later alleged in a lawsuit that he assaulted her at home in April 2018 after giving her medication that left her drifting out of consciousness.

Slaby said many of the cases occurred under earlier administrations, that the agency has added four attorneys to its health and medical prosecutions teams, and that prosecutors often fail to notify it of indictments. The agency is backing legislation requiring facilities to report allegations within 24 hours. State Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, called for "more transparency," and Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, is working on a bill to extend hospital reporting rules to doctors' offices and satellite clinics.