THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503250310
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Gail Narducci consulted a psychologist because her daughter was troubled and because Narducci wanted to patch together her family.
But her relationship with psychologist Peter O. Powell became more than professional. By the time she broke with him, she says, her marriage was destroyed, she was depressed, and her daughter was worse off than before.
On Friday, representatives of state Board of Medicine found grounds to suspend or revoke Powell's license for having sex with two women whose children were his patients.
A three-member committee of the state board voted to pass the case along to a formal panel, which will decide whether to suspend or revoke the license. Powell is allowed to continue practicing for now.
Committee members deliberated less than 20 minutes before voting unanimously to send the case on for a formal hearing. They could have chosen to exonerate or reprimand Powell, or to put him on probation.
Powell did not deny having sex with Narducci, a Chesapeake resident, or with Yorktown resident Gloria H. Woods.
``I apologize to everybody,'' he said, ``I mean that sincerely.''
However, he said his license shouldn't be suspended, because his relationships with the women were personal from the start; he never provided therapy for either while he treated their children, he said.
Powell showed little emotion during the hearing or after the decision was read. Once, when Woods was testifying, he drummed his fingers on a table and rolled his eyes.
Some of the liaisons took place in Powell's office at the Koger Executive Center in Norfolk and at his office in Newport News, the women said in interviews Friday. Powell no longer has an office in Norfolk, although he continues to practice on the Peninsula.
The women contend that they, along with their children, were his patients, and that he used the doctor-patient relationship to seduce them. Both Narducci and Woods have filed malpractice suits against Powell.
Narducci, who alleges her sexual relationship with Powell lasted from December 1990 to July 1992, told the doctors on the committee that Powell led her to believe such a relationship would be therapeutic.
``He told me that I needed this. I needed to be with someone that would appreciate me and love me the way I needed to be loved,'' she testified.
Narducci was billed for at least two of the 50-minute sessions in Powell's office, according to one board member, Michael L. Stutts, a psychologist and faculty member at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Powell said he wasn't sure why she was charged for the social visits and said there may have been an accounting error.
Woods said she was sexually involved with him from April 1981 to September 1992. Narducci was married when the affair started; Woods was separated but attempting to reconcile. Both marriages ended after the women began their affairs with Powell.
Board questions centered on Powell's contention that the women were never his patients.
``You can draw a line between treating the child and treating the parents, even when the child is a minor?'' asked Charles Lovell, a Norfolk physician.
``Yes,'' Powell answered.
Lovell and Assistant Attorney General Clyde W. Mathews Jr. asked whether having an affair with a parent could hurt a child who is a patient.
``I guess it would be possible. . . I'm not honestly sure,'' said Powell.
Powell, who chose not to take his attorney to the hearing, said he was surprised by the decision, which he called ``far too severe.''
KEYWORDS: PSYCHOLOGIST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF MEDICINE by CNB