Anaheim Doctor’s License Reinstated Pending Hearing

LOS ANGELES —  A Superior Court judge has reinstated the medical license of an Anaheim weight-control specialist accused of having sexual relations with two of his patients last year.

Russell Iungerich, an attorney for Dr. Michael D. Lawton, who was suspended from practice in January, said Friday that the patients submitted sworn statements but never testified.

“We didn’t have the opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses. You can’t take away a medical license on the basis of uncross-examined hearsay,” Iungerich said. “Our concern is, you have to have serious proof of danger to the public before taking someone’s license away.”

The decision overturning the interim license suspension was filed by Judge Robert H. O’Brien. It enables Lawton, 39, to return to practice immediately. Lawton was not available for comment Friday.

The Medical Board of California will seek to revoke Lawton’s license in a hearing scheduled for May 5, said Kathleen Schmidt, the board’s senior investigator in Santa Ana. At that time, the two patients are expected to testify, she said.

Last Jan. 13, an administrative law judge in San Diego issued a temporary restraining order suspending Lawton’s license after two women said they had sex with the doctor in his office. One of them also said he gave her addictive drugs.

In a sworn statement, one woman said she had sex with Lawton in an examining room in April, 1991, so that she could continue receiving amphetamine-like drugs. Another patient said she had sex with him on the floor.

The state’s Business and Professions Code forbids sexual relations between a doctor and a patient.

Lawton was arrested last December on a felony charge of trying to bribe a witness, a patient expecting to testify against him. However, no charges were ever filed, Iungerich said.