Harrison doctor ordered to stand trial on accusation he touched woman inappropriately during exam

A physician with a practice in Harrison has been ordered to stand trial on charges he improperly touched a 29-year-old woman while examining her.

Mohan Patel, 69, of the 400 block of Jamesborough Drive in Fox Chapel was charged May 11 by Allegheny County Police with misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and harassment.

Patel was released from custody on a $25,000 unsecured bond following his arrest, according to court documents.

At a preliminary hearing Wednesday, May 24, District Judge Carolyn Bengel ordered Patel to stand trial on the charges in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

A county police detective wrote in a criminal complaint that the woman, who works for Allegheny Health Network, reported to police that she made an appointment to see Patel on Feb. 23 because of stomach pain when she was unable to see her primary care physician.

The woman told investigators a nurse took her vital signs in an examining room and left but did not return when Patel came in to see her, the complaint said.

She told police she was reclined on the examining table and pulled her T-shirt up above her stomach so Patel could try to determine the cause of the pain she was experiencing, police said.

Without asking her, the woman said, Patel pulled her shirt up above her breasts and placed his hand on her left breast and kept it there during the entire examination, the complaint said.

The woman told police that because of her job in health care, she knew Patel’s actions were inappropriate. She said she was “frozen with fear” during the incident, the complaint said.

The woman told police Patel commented on her recent weight loss and said she didn’t need to lose any more because she was “perfect,” the complaint said.

He used the word “perfect” three or four more times, she said, while speaking to her. She told police that she felt the doctor was “hitting on her,” according to the complaint.

She said Patel mentioned repeatedly that he knows her employer and that she interpreted it as him trying to intimidate her, police said.

Patel ordered tests for the woman and recommended that she schedule a follow-up appointment but that it should be with a different doctor, the complaint said.