Longtime California surgeon accused of sexual misconduct surrenders medical licenses
A Sacramento-area colorectal surgeon who had been licensed to practice in California for nearly two decades surrendered his medical credentials late last month, following a 2021 complaint by the state medical board accusing the surgeon of gross negligence and sexual misconduct involving multiple patients.
Ranganath Pathak was issued his physician’s and surgeon’s certificate in 2002 and had practiced as a surgeon and proctologist in the years since then at facilities in Sacramento and Roseville.
Then, last May, the executive director of the Medical Board of California filed a formal complaint to state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office seeking a hearing to revoke or suspend Pathak’s licenses. The filing included a litany of accusations, ranging from inappropriate comments to performing sensitive medical procedures without consent.
Pathak earlier this year agreed to waive his right to a hearing and other proceedings, and he voluntarily surrendered his medical licenses, which had been set to expire in September 2023.
Pathak signed the agreement in January, and Bonta’s office signed and forwarded it to the Department of Consumer Affairs in February. The agreement set March 30 as the effective date of surrender.
Pathak’s agreement to surrender his license states that the agreement “shall not be admissible in any other criminal or civil proceeding.”
Misconduct allegations detailed in suit
One of Pathak’s former patients filed a civil lawsuit against him in 2020 in Sacramento Superior Court, seeking damages for sexual assault and other allegations. That case is awaiting civil trial, tentatively scheduled for 2023, court records show.
Sacramento and Placer superior court records do not show any other pending civil or criminal cases involving Pathak.
The alleged indiscretions by Pathak listed in the complaint, a copy of which is attached to the surrender stipulations, spanned from 2018 through early 2020 and involved at least three different female patients.
The complaint alleged Pathak instructed one patient “to purchase an adult sex toy and practice having orgasms,” then “report back to him how many orgasms she achieved.” He then allegedly gave the patient a vaginal exam without her oral or written consent.
The complaint said he touched a second patient’s breasts “for at least three minutes,” with the patient reporting there was “no specific pattern to what (he) was doing.”
And it alleged that Pathak performed a procedure on a third patient but “did not explain the nature of the procedure he would be conducting,” nor did he obtain “written or oral informed consent.” The patient reportedly told investigators the procedure was painful.
Recordkeeping an issue, doctor admits
The filing also stated that Pathak did not keep adequate records showing whether he had a chaperone in the room during exams and procedures.
The written complaint includes summaries of responses Pathak reportedly gave to a state investigator who interviewed him in fall 2020 about his interactions with patients. According to the complaint, Pathak denied to the investigator that he had given the vaginal and breast examinations in question, but admitted to shoddy recordkeeping, as well as occasionally hugging patients.
Pathak at the time of last year’s complaint worked at Sacramento Colon & Rectal Surgery Medical Group, a private practice with offices in downtown Sacramento, Carmichael and Roseville. The practice’s website no longer lists him as one of its physicians.
In signing the agreement, Pathak forfeited any right to appeal with the state.
The document also stipulates that if he were ever to apply for a new medical license or petition for reinstatement in California, “all of the charges and allegations contained” in the complaint “shall be deemed to be true, correct and admitted by (Pathak) when the Board determines whether to grant or deny the petition.”
