City changes
physical exam after
women complain

Three HPD officers seek settlements
after the intimate inspections

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Three female officers in the Honolulu Police Department have charged they were sexually touched during routine physicals by city doctors over the past two years.

As a result, policies have changed in recent weeks to clear up any "misunderstandings" between physicians and city employees, a city spokeswoman said.

"This has happened way too often," said Elizabeth Jubin Fujiwara, attorney for the officers, saying she will sue the city if settlements on the complaints aren't reached.

"Once I was shocked. Twice it was like: 'Oh my God, what is going on?' The third time is like: 'What is the problem?'"

One city doctor named in two of the allegations, a retired gynecologist, recently resigned, Fujiwara said.

City spokeswoman Carol Costa said she could not answer specific questions about the cases.

The incidents allegedly happened on Sept. 30, 1996; Aug. 27, 1996, and July 26, 1995.

"I have never encountered an exam as obtrusive and unusual as this one," the woman involved in the August 1996 case said in a signed affidavit.

"No other doctor has probed my pelvic region as much as this," said the woman, a six-year veteran of the Police Department. "The other doctors have only pressed on the lower stomach area. I felt the examination was unprofessional."

Despite telling the doctor she had recently had her breasts examined by another physician, he looked at them anyway, the woman said. The doctor also made her uncomfortable when he touched other parts of her body and told her not to put her clothes on when she began doing so, she said.

Fujiwara said a report was sent to the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. The agency said there was not enough evidence of wrongdoing to take away the doctor's license.

The September 1996 case involved the same doctor. The woman said she also had her breasts examined, although she had told both the doctor and the nurse that she'd recently been through an examination.

The woman said the physician, to her surprise, cupped his hand over each of her breasts. According to Fujiwara, the woman said at one point he bounced her breast up and down for five to 15 seconds. He also stood and stared at her genital area for one minute, Fujiwara said.

The woman said that she filed a police report in which evidence was found that she had been harassed. The case is currently before prosecutors, Fujiwara said.

In both cases, a female nurse was present in the room, Fujiwara said. In the second case, the nurse looked away and made no comment, she said.

Fujiwara would not discuss the specifics of the third case. A two-year statute of limitations runs out July 25. Fujiwara said she expects to file suit by then.

Costa said a new policy making it clearer for those coming in for examinations was put in place two to three weeks ago. She added that she does not know if the changes were an acknowledgment that the complaints by Fujiwara's clients have merit.

"What we believe has occurred is a misunderstanding in the past as to the purpose of the various procedures," Costa said. As for the new policy, "We have added a written informational sheet that we pass out to individuals who come in for examinations that explains procedures and encourages them to ask questions."

Fujiwara said one of the procedures requires women's breasts to be examined once a year, although a patient can see her own doctor. The requirement is ludicrous, she said, because the city's exam is supposed to determine if someone can function at work.