A Los Angeles gynecologist has surrendered his medical license for allegedly hectoring a patient about Jesus and prescribing Bible study after she revealed having had an abortion 34 years prior.
The 63-year-old woman went to Dr. Lucien Cox in September 2021 for a routine exam, during which an assistant first asked a series of preliminary questions, including whether or not she had ever terminated a pregnancy. The woman said she underwent an elective abortion in 1987, according to a disciplinary filing by the Medical Board of California.
When Cox, 75, entered the room, he pressed the woman for further details about the abortion, and asked if she had “Jesus in her life,” the filing states. When the woman told Cox she was not religious, it says Cox asked if she wanted to “go to heaven and avoid the devil,” telling her that “the devil is ruling the world.” He then spent the next 15 minutes proselytizing before inviting her to attend his Bible study class, which Cox said offered “counseling for women who suffer from guilt following an abortion,” according to the filing.
Cox, who is no longer allowed to practice as of Tuesday, then called his assistant back into the room and administered a pelvic exam and Pap smear, the filing says.
The woman complained to state regulators, who launched a probe and discovered a second patient of Cox’s had reported him to authorities in 2014 for “attempt[ing] to examine [her] uterus rectally without first warning her,” according to the filing. Stunned, the 42-year-old woman pushed Cox away, left the office, and called the police. Cops investigated, but no criminal charges were filed, the filing states.
The filing cites Cox, who began practicing in 1979, for unprofessional conduct and gross negligence, calling him out for “extreme departures from the standard of care.” The medical board pulled Cox’s license, effective November 5.
In a statement provided on Wednesday to The Independent, Cox’s attorney, Peter Osinoff, said his client “did not offer to teach her about Christianity,” and that he denied making any comments “about the devil or about going to heaven.” Cox is “deeply religious,” and merely “advised the patient [who had had an abortion] about a Bible study program that she might find helpful,” according to Osinoff.
“As always, a chaperone was present during the exam, which proceeded uneventfully,” he said.
If Cox had proceeded to a tribunal before the medical board, “he would not have lost his license, or been disciplined severely,” according to Osinoff, who said Cox “has never been the subject of any prior disciplinary action during his lengthy career as a physician.”
“Rather than proceed to a costly hearing, Dr. Cox decided to surrender his license, as he had closed his office and had been planning to retire from the practice of medicine for some time,” the statement concluded.
Cox further denied making an attempt to examine the second patient’s uterus via her rectum, according to Osinoff, who said Cox had “provided excellent care for thousands of patients in the Los Angeles community.”
