Ex-Member of Therapy Board Faces Charges

A former member of the state’s physical therapy disciplinary board has been accused of unprofessional conduct in a formal complaint alleging that he made sexual advances to two female patients while they were undergoing treatment for pain.

A 10-page accusation filed by Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren asks the Physical Therapy Examining Committee to consider either suspending or revoking the professional license of John R. Matthews for gross violations of its standards of conduct.

“It is an extreme departure from the standard(s) . . . for a physical therapist to engage in sexual activity and innuendo with a patient, especially during actual therapy,” the accusation stated.

The attorney general’s accusation accuses Matthews of sexual misconduct with a 38-year-old patient he treated in 1992 and a 34-year-old patient who underwent therapy for a shoulder injury in 1993.

Matthews, 59, a physical therapist for 33 years, was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1993. The six-member panel oversees the physical therapy profession in California through its power to license and discipline.

Matthews, who practices in Santa Barbara, resigned from the panel in February, saying he had become aware that his professional actions were under investigation and that it was making it difficult for him to perform his public duties.

“I cannot continue to sit in judgment of others when my license may be in question,” he wrote Wilson. “At this time it is important that the committee not be compromised and that I devote my time and energies to my family and, if necessary, defending myself.”

Matthews’ attorney, Barry Snyder, said he has asked for a hearing on the accusation before an administrative law judge. Although he has not seen all the evidence to be used against Matthews, he said the charges are not accurate.

“We deny the alleged conduct occurred, and we’re prepared to aggressively defend against this accusation,” Snyder said.

Matthews is the third Wilson appointee in recent months to leave office after allegations of ethical wrongdoing.

Agriculture Secretary Henry J. Voss quit his post last week, six weeks after acknowledging that he had failed to properly disclose more than $400,000 in private farm income.

Earlier, a parolee’s allegations that Charles G. Westlund, a member of the Narcotic Addict Evaluation Authority, had made improper sexual advances toward her prompted the Wilson Administration to pressure him to resign. Westlund, 30, has strongly denied the allegation.

Wilson’s press secretary, Sean Walsh, said the governor makes hundreds of appointments and it is only “occasionally” that one of them has to resign because of accusations of misconduct.

Steven Hartzell, executive officer of the therapy board, said the attorney general’s office, rather than the board’s staff, had conducted the investigation of Matthews to avoid a conflict.

The accusation alleged that during some of the 1993 therapy sessions, Matthews would massage one woman patient’s breasts and buttocks and position her on the examining table in order to expose her breasts.

The second patient, who came to Matthews for treatment of back, shoulder and neck pain, was forced to fondle him during therapy, the accusation said.

The final decision in Matthews’ case will be made by his former colleagues on the disciplinary panel.