Dr. Brij Rana

LIVE OAK, Fla. — Following two claims of sexual misconduct, a Live Oak doctor has been restricted by the Florida Department of Health from seeing female patients.

The health department and State Surgeon General Scott Rivkees issued the emergency restriction on Dr. Brij Bhushan Manohar Lal Rana’s license April 30.

According to the department’s emergency restriction order, a female patient visited Dr. Rana’s Urgent Medical Care office on April 18, 2018, to receive blood work results.

At the end of that visit, the order said the doctor put his left arm around the patient, pulling her close, and then grabbed her breast with his right hand.

The order states the shocked patient pushed the doctor away and left the building. She reported the incident to her mother and then-husband. The incident was also reported to the Live Oak Police Department, the order states. The incident was not reported to the health department, which oversees medical practices and licenses.

According to the order, another female patient visited Dr. Rana’s office Feb. 10, 2020, for a routine examination and following the exam, he stuck out his right hand to shake the patient’s hand.

When the patient shook his hand, Dr. Rana used his left arm to pull the patient close, wrapping it around her back. After moving his right hand to the patient’s shoulder, he then grabbed her breast.

The order states the patient moved Dr. Rana’s hand away and angrily stared at him before leaving the examination room. Upon leaving the office, the patient told a nurse at the front desk about the incident, who told the patient to report it to the health department.

The patient also told her fiancé and reported the incident to the LOPD, the order states.

“Dr. Rana’s conduct of touching and/or squeezing the breasts of his female patients was so brazen and with such a wanton disregard for the laws and rules regulating the practice of medicine, that any female that presents to Dr. Rana for any purpose is in danger within the confines of the examination room,” Rivkees said in the order about prohibiting the doctor from treating and interacting with female patients.

“Dr. Rana’s conduct is of a nature that is likely to continue as long as he continues to treat female patients without supervision.”

The order adds that formal discipline of Dr. Rana’s license may be taken.