The suspension of a Platte County physician’s license for having sex with an underage patient has been upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court.
Announcement of the high court’s ruling came recently in the matter involving Dr. Blake Henry Donaldson, who had operated the Primary North Clinic, located at 5861 NW 72nd. St., Kansas City in Platte County.
The office building is located off of 72nd St., just east of Interstate 29.
KCUR 89.3 radio station (NPR) first reported the news of the supreme court’s decision on Dec. 22.
Donaldson, now age 59, had argued he was denied due process when his license was suspended on an emergency basis in December of 2017. Donaldson had challenged the constitutionality of the law allowing the state’s medical disciplinary board to suspend a physician’s license on an emergency basis.
Donaldson’s side had also argued that the hearing tribunal wrongly drew an adverse inference from his invocation of his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, but that position was also rejected by the supreme court.
Donaldson also argued that the emergency suspension of his license was arbitrary because there was no active emergency at the time, but the court ruled that the statute does not require an active emergency.
The Missouri Board of Registration and Healing Arts and the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission had ruled in 2017 that Donaldson engaged in sexual misconduct with a 16-year-old male patient. The sexual contact allegedly continued after the patient turned 17, the age of consent in Missouri, with the board ruling it was still unethical conduct. The state’s administrative hearing commission granted the emergency suspension in 2017.
Donaldson denies the allegations. According to the Missouri courts database, no criminal charges were filed in the matter.
In August of 2018, the board of registration for the healing arts held a hearing and then in September of 2018 published its revocation of Donaldson’s license.
According to the order revoking his license, Donaldson had declined to answer specific questions about the allegations against him during the August 2018 hearing, instead invoking his Fifth Amendment rights.