Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 30, 1993 TAG: 9309300103
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
William Gray was named in a $1 million lawsuit filed Wednesday in Roanoke Circuit Court by one of his former patients.
The patient claims he was sexually abused for more than a decade by Gray, "who totally misused his position as a psychiatrist in order to obtain personal sexual gratification."
Gray is accused in the lawsuit of forcing sex on the young man by playing on his fears that he would send him to a mental hospital - allegations similar to those heard by the state Board of Medicine this year.
In June, a Board of Medicine hearing examiner ruled that Gray sexually exploited five young patients, sometimes plying them with free food, housing and cars.
The board is expected to decide next month whether Gray's license should be permanently revoked.
Gray - who has claimed he is the victim of a conspiracy by a group of disgruntled, mentally unstable patients - has not been allowed to practice medicine pending the board's final decision.
Gray's legal troubles began last year when Roanoke County authorities charged him with a misdemeanor sexual battery offense involving a patient.
That charge was dismissed, but a Franklin County grand jury later indicted Gray on felony charges of having sex with young men at his Smith Mountain Lake home.
The Franklin County charges were dropped after Gray agreed to surrender forever his license to practice in Virginia. The board, however, rejected Gray's offer, contending that a suspension instead of a revocation might allow him to practice in other states.
by CNB