Practitioner’s License Revoked After Charges

A former Sherman Oaks respiratory practitioner’s license has been revoked following his conviction on criminal charges related to three separate incidents of lewd conduct in public restrooms, the Respiratory Care Board of California announced Monday.

Thomas Woodson did not contest the accusation against him, which was filed before the state board early last year, said board spokeswoman Christine Molina.

Woodson has had three convictions for sex offenses since 1982, Molina said. He was arrested by vice officers in a Griffith Park men’s room that year and pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace, she said. In 1986, Woodson pleaded guilty to indecent exposure after allegedly touching an undercover vice officer’s groin in a North Hollywood park’s restroom, and in 1992 he pleaded guilty to soliciting a lewd act from another undercover vice officer in a restroom, she said.

Although none of the incidents occurred in Woodson’s practice, the board still determined he was a potential threat to his patients, Molina said. “A lot of the time you’re in a hospital setting, [patients] are on medication, they’re hooked up to ventilators,” she said. “They don’t have a chance to get away from people.”

Woodson’s license had expired last year, and it was not known if he was still practicing. Respiratory practitioners help treat patients with chronic lung ailments.