Healthcare Board Defends Decision to Suspend Doctor’s License for ‘Sexual Assault’
- Dignity 4Patients
- Oct 21
- 4 min read
By Clark Kauffman- 22/10/2025- Iowa Capital Dispatch- [James Haag]- [Cedar Falls, US]
The Iowa Board of Medicine is defending its decision to suspend the license of a physician assistant facing multiple criminal charges alleging he sexually assaulted female patients.
Late last year, the Iowa Board of Physician Assistants issued an emergency order suspending the license of James Haag, who was practicing occupational medicine at MercyOne’s Bluebell Road Family Medicine in Cedar Falls.
In its order, the board cited Haag’s “predatory actions towards his patients (that) constitute a threat to public health.” The board alleged Haag “sexually assaulted multiple patients in his care” and that he posed “an immediate danger to the public health, safety and welfare.” In April, the board concluded Haag’s conduct warranted a three-year suspension of his license.
Haag was also criminally charged in connection with the alleged assaults, and is currently facing two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, two counts of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, and three counts of simple assault. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a trial, which had been scheduled for April and then September of this year, is now set for April 28, 2026.
With the criminal case still pending, Haag is seeking judicial review of the licensing board’s decision to suspend his license. Haag alleges the board “ignored the facts” that were presented at his disciplinary hearing.
“Fabricating testimony is apparently the depths to which the board is willing to sink to discount all evidence supporting Mr. Haag’s innocence,” Haag’s attorney alleges in court filings.
Haag’s petition seeks a court order overruling the board’s decision.
In a recently filed court brief responding to Haag’s claims, the board details the specific patient allegations that led to the license suspension and asserts that there is “ample evidence Haag inappropriately touched four of his patients in sexual manner.” The board also alleges that even if all of the factual discrepancies or contradictions in the case were settled in Haag’s favor, “his misconduct would still have been substantiated, and his license would still be suspended for three years.”
Board records show that as part of his work at Bluebell Road Family Medicine, Haag performed job-related physicals for individuals who worked at a local business.
The licensing board alleges that in July 2024, Haag examined four patients for purposes of their employment. In each case, the patients were allegedly instructed to disrobe and Haag conducted the initial portion of the exams without the presence of a nurse or other observer.
During the course of each examination, the board alleges, Haag removed each patient’s robe and “made physical contact” with the patients’ genitals. In some instances, the board alleges, he used his hands, while in others he “pressed his fully clothed pelvic area into the patient’s genitals or backside.”
The board alleges Haag also made “inappropriate contact with multiple patients’ breasts” during the course of their examinations. “In multiple instances, where the patients attempted to cover themselves, (Haag) swatted their hands away,” the board alleges.
At the February 2025 hearing on the licensing board charges, Haag testified that he always requests a female chaperone be in the room during a female hernia exam for his own “protection” since the procedure involves touching a woman’s lower pelvic area.
Hearing testimony indicated that while a chaperone entered the room during the four women’s physicals, it was typically after Haag had already performed the portion of the exam that was most concerning to the women.
In its most recent court brief, the board also notes that in some cases, the women reported the chaperone deliberately looked away during their exams, and the chaperone herself testified she looked at the walls or an exam-room cabinet during at least one of the women’s exams.
The brief quotes one of the female patients as expressing concern over the chaperone’s behavior. “This nurse, for whatever reason, when he went to check down there, she looked away … Why are you looking away? Why are you not watching, you know, what he is doing? … (She) stood by the bed and just looked away instantly.”
The board concluded that the four alleged victims were credible and consistent in their allegations.
“Haag used his position of power as a medical professional to inappropriately touch vulnerable female patients, patients that were required to undergo a physical in order to maintain employment,” the board stated in its ruling on Haag’s license suspension.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and were abused in state run medical and health facilities, you can contact Dignity4Patients, whose helpline is open Monday to Thursday, 10am to 4pm.
Dignity4Patients Commentary: Haag’s actions represent a profound betrayal of medical ethics and human decency. By weaponising his authority as a doctor to exploit a vulnerable patient, he committed a grave violation of the #DutyOfCare that forms the very foundation of the medical profession