PORTLAND A retired Bend plastic surgeon and a former Bend obstetrician/gynecologist lost their licenses to practice medicine in Oregon on Thursday because of misconduct with patients.

The Oregon Board of Medical Examiners, the body responsible for licensing, regulating and disciplining health-care providers, issued final rulings on cases involving Drs. Douglas Berry and Ronald Stevenson. In both cases, the physicians signed the stipulated orders, agreeing to their terms. Berry, 58, admitted kissing patients on two separate occasions without their consent, according to board documents.

He also entered into a consensual sexual affair with a patient in the early 1980s that continued for several months while he was treating her.

Stevenson, 47, an OB/GYN who worked in Bend until April 2003, was convicted on two counts of aggravated harassment in Deschutes County Circuit Court in February 2004.

He entered an Alford plea at the time, which doesn’t admit to the underlying facts of the case but is legally considered a conviction, and was sentenced to five years probation.

Both physicians have been under investigation by the board for several years and the final orders issued Thursday bring those investigations to a close. The board did not technically revoke the physicians’ licenses, said Kathleen Haley, executive director of the OBME.

Instead, Berry chose to retire his license and agreed to never attempt to practice medicine in Oregon again, according to the order.

”I’ve done things I regret in my adult life,” Berry said in a phone interview Thursday from his Bend home. ”I’ve tried to make amends for them. For my family and everyone affected, we worked it out years ago. This is a painful public process.”

Stevenson agreed to surrender his license for two years. He and the board agreed he could then reapply for a license after undergoing evaluations to determine his medical competence.

”It has the same effect as a revocation,” Haley said. ”This was something negotiated between the board and Dr. Stevenson. In the case of a revocation, the board also agrees to review the case in two years.”

Stevenson could not be reached for comment Thursday. His former Bend attorney’s office, Ash and Ash, no longer represents Stevenson and the board would not release contact information for Stevenson’s current attorney.

The physician lost his medical privileges at St. Charles Medical Center-Bend in 2002, said hospital spokesman Todd Sprague. According to the OBME, the most recent known address for him is in Tigard.

Although the board’s decision in both cases means Berry and Stevenson can not currently practice in Oregon, either physician could technically move to another state and apply for a license there.

The disciplinary action taken against Berry and Stevenson will be reported to three national databanks, Haley said. States can independently check the databanks when deciding to issue licenses to physicians, but the OBME does not make an effort to notify neighboring states when physicians violate the Oregon Medical Practice Act.

By signing the stipulated orders, Stevenson and Berry both admitted to multiple violations of the Oregon Medical Practice Act including unprofessional or dishonorable conduct. Each is accused of kissing and caressing patients without consent.

”Anything that you do with a patient that is of a sexual nature, whether it is welcome or not, is in violation of the Medical Practice Act,” said Jim Kronenberg of the Oregon Medical Association. ”If you have a patient you’re attracted to, that you think you might want to have a relationship with, the first thing you do is discharge that patient from your practice.”

In his experience, Kronenberg said, cases like Berry’s and Stevenson’s come up with physicians from time to time. But, he said, it is more likely that physicians get into trouble by entering into consensual relationships with patients.

Terminating a medical license, either through revocation or through a mutual agreement, is a typical punishment for unprofessional and dishonorable conduct, Haley said.

”At times when maybe there is a single violation the board might consider probation,” Haley said. ”There were multiple violations in both of these cases.”

If either Berry or Stevenson attempts to practice medicine or violates the board’s orders in any way, they will be taken to court by the board, Haley said. The goal, she said, would be to get an injunction to stop the physicians from practicing.

Berry said he retired from medicine in September because of a medical condition that caused him to lose the vision in one of his eyes. He has no plans to attempt to practice medicine again in Oregon or any other state, he said.

Even with the knowledge of Berry’s medical condition, Haley said, the board felt it was necessary to ask the former plastic surgeon to permanently retire his license.

”The board’s charge is to protect the public,” Haley said. ”They had to be assured that he won’t practice any kind of medicine.”

The board is working to educate physicians about proper relationships and professional boundaries, Haley said. The members recently drafted a statement on professionalism that will be included in the board’s next newsletter.

”We do expect professionalism and this type of behavior will not be tolerated,” Haley said. ”It’s an on-going issue. The board has tried to educate physicians that this is a violation of the law. You can not date your patients.”

Kayley Mendenhall can be reached at 541-383-0375 or at kmendenhall@bendbulletin.com.