FREEPORT, Maine — A Freeport cardiologist disciplined in 2015 for having a sexual relationship with a patient has again been sanctioned by the Maine Board of Licensure of Medicine and Office of the Attorney General for filing inaccurate and incomplete applications to renew his medical license and for reappointment to the staff at Mercy Hospital in Portland.
Dr. Lowell Gerber, who formerly practiced with Freeport Cardiology and is currently listed with the state as practicing out of his Freeport home, was reprimanded and fined $1,000 under the terms of a consent agreement with the board, according to a release from the state.
Gerber has held a license to practice medicine in Maine since April 2007 and specializes in cardiology and internal medicine, according to a consent agreement with the state.
The board began its investigation in February after receiving a complaint that in his application for reappointment to the Mercy Hospital staff, Gerber failed to disclose that he had resigned from the staff in July 2015, according to the consent agreement.
Gerber told the state that his attorney told him that because of a pending malpractice lawsuit he was not required to mention the previous complaint, the agreement states. He also said he had mistakenly indicated on reappointment application that he had not “voluntarily resigned from a medical staff in order to avoid peer review or investigation.”
An investigation subsequently determined that he also failed to disclose on his application to renew his medical license the fact that he had been asked to resign from the medical staff.
In July 2015, the same board suspended Gerber for 30 days for having a sexual relationship with a patient. Sanctions prohibited him from practicing out of his home and from practicing on female patients.
Under the terms of the 2015 consent agreement, Gerber agreed to a reprimand, a 30-day license suspension, a civil penalty, a five-year probation period during which he must practice with a chaperone, submit to inspection and monitoring of his practice, take an ethics and boundary course, undergo psychological evaluation and pay investigative costs.