Doctor's License Suspended, Accused Of Sex Misconduct With Patients

By Sam Smink, of WFSB 3 TV staff

PLAINVILLE, CT — A doctor who practiced in Plainville had his license suspended by the state after health officials say he pressured two patients to engage in sexual contact in exchange for prescriptions and other drugs.

The CT Medical Examining Board suspended Doctor Henry Todd’s after the Department of Public Health said his ability to practice medicine represented a clear and immediate danger.

Doctor Todd had been a doctor in the Plainville office of Hartford Healthcare Medical Group. Officials there tell us he was terminated after a patient complained of sexual misconduct.

They reported the case to DPH.

DPH staff attorney Joelle Newton told the medical board, “he caused Patient 1 to engage in sexual contact in exchange for prescriptions for medications including controlled substances. Doctor Todd prescribed narcotics for this patient with no examination, tox screen or cs agreement.”

DPH said he had cared for the patient for 10 years, but continued writing prescriptions even when she stopped being a patient in 2022.

They say he “violated the standard of care because he failed to appropriately treat, assess, and/or examine Patient #1, prescribe controlled substances with clinical justification; order urine screen toxicology tests; maintain appropriate medical records; and/or appropriately review the Connecticut Prescription Monitoring and Reporting System.”

The department says he did the same thing with a second patient.

“Respondent engaged in sexual contact with patient 2 during office visits,” says Newton. “He caused Patient 2 to become addicted to opiates to satisfy his sexual needs.”

DPH says Doctor Todd also accessed the first patient’s healthcare records more than 2,500 times when she wasn’t his patient any longer and used that access to solicit unwanted sexual conduct.

Doctor Todd’s attorney Paul Spinella said he only just got case records last week.

He made a motion to have the meeting continued, but it failed.

Tuesday’s meeting was a summary suspension hearing. Under state law, DPH can immediately suspend a license without the holder being granted the opportunity to contest the action prior to the effective date and time of the suspension, if there is a public safety concern.

"I have no response to this. When all these records are dumped on me. And we get all of these hearsay allegations,” says attorney Spinella. "How do I even respond to this when I have no adequate, no discovery of any kind? It’s a mockery of any kind of probable cause or due process.”

We asked State Police if they had any criminal investigations into Doctor Todd. State Police said “after querying our reporting system for that name, we are unable to identify any active CSP investigations matching this description.”

Plainville Police did not respond.

Here is Hartford Healthcare Medical Group’s full statement: “Dr. Henry Todd was terminated by Hartford HealthCare Medical Group following an investigation of a patient complaint of sexual misconduct. The matter has also been reported to the appropriate authorities. The safety and well-being of our patients and colleagues is the highest priority at Hartford HealthCare Medical Group, today and always.”

Watch video of this WFSB TV story by clicking here.

(Editor's note: This story was reported and written by WFSB 3 TV staff and is reprinted in its entirety on Patch with permission).