Ohio Senate approves bill prompted by Strauss sexual assault cases

State Sen. Bob Hackett, R-London, during the Ohio Senate session, February 8, 2023, in the Senate Chamber at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original article.)

This week the Ohio Senate approved a measure prompted by the case of Richard Strauss, an Ohio State University team doctor who sexually assaulted hundreds of students under the guise of medical care. The legislation’s Senate passage comes five years after Strauss’s behavior — and the lack of institutional action to stop it — came to light publicly. It still needs to pass the Ohio House.

“The Richard Strauss matter was an unthinkable tragedy that greatly affected citizens of Ohio, who we have a duty to protect,” Sen. Bob Hackett, R-London, said on the Senate floor.

“Senate Bill 109 seeks to increase accountability of licensed medical professionals by holding them to the same standard as other professions with an existing power dynamic,” he explained, “while providing the State Medical Board enough resources to remove bad actors from practice.”

His legislation takes its cues from a working group Gov. Mike DeWine established in 2019. After it became clear that university officials and the state medical board had received, but not acted on, complaints about Strauss’s abuse, DeWine sought a review of medical board sexual misconduct cases for the last 25 years.

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In committee testimony Hackett described his bill as “the culmination” of that work. Some Strauss survivors contend there’s more work to be done.

What would change?

The proposal expands the offense of sexual battery in a couple of ways. First, it includes sexual contact within the scope of prohibited action — current law applies to sexual conduct. Second, the statute establishes several relations of trust — parents, teachers, coaches — for whom sexual contact would amount to sexual battery. Hackett’s bill adds to that list medical professionals who engage in sexual activity during the course of treatment.

The bill also establishes several new requirements for how misconduct allegations play out with the state medical board. When prosecutors indict licensees on sexual battery charges they’ll have to inform the board. Healthcare facilities face similar requirements if they launch an investigation of a licensee.

The proposal also authorizes the board to automatically suspend a licensee charged with a felony in another state, provide written disclosure to patients when a practitioner is on probation and requires it to post information about probations on its website.

Additionally, the board would be able to bring in an outside perspective — what the legislation terms, a “consumer member” who doesn’t hold a medical license — when handling sexual misconduct complaints.

Speaking in support of the legislation, Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, D-Toledo, said, “I think it’s most important for us to remember the victims that came before this committee, and talked about the gaps between the medical board and the criminal justice and how this legislation will help to close that gap.”

Stephen Snyder-Hill, lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Ohio State University related to sexual abuse by former university doctor Richard Strauss, poses for a portrait, August 17, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)

A survivor’s response

Stephen Snyder-Hill has been perhaps the most outspoken survivor of Strauss’s abuse. In the mid-1990s, he filed complaints about Strauss, and falsely assured that the school had never received similar complaints about the doctor. A university-commissioned report found at least 177 first-hand accounts of abuse beginning in 1979 — one year after he began working for OSU.

Since then, hundreds more have come forward, and the school has settled lawsuits with many. But Snyder-Hill, and scores of other plaintiffs are still fighting the school in court. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed that case to proceed.

In an email, Snyder-Hill insisted “any real meaningful legislation that holds sexual predators accountable is welcome by survivors,” but he worries whether SB 109 does enough.

For instance, Snyder-Hill argued the provision requiring doctors to inform patients about being placed on probation happens too late in the process.

“They would already have to be on probation for sexual misconduct,” he said, “so to me this would have already been exposed and addressed before they would be required to notify you.”

Instead he argued the board would be better served instituting a system in line with his demands of the university back in 1996: if a patient complains, they should be notified about future complaints.

He also argued the measure may be too narrowly focused. While it expands offenses and mandates greater communication between investigators and the medical board once disciplinary action begins, it does little to demand accountability from employers.

“This bill really only addresses the medical board, and the abuser,” Snyder-Hill said, “they seem to be missing the point of the organization facilitating the abuse.”

The Strauss report paints a picture of a sprawling institution repeatedly warned of an employee’s well-known pattern of abuse. Under SB 109, if those warnings don’t result in investigations, the medical board wouldn’t be any the wiser. The measure instead puts its emphasis on individuals — expanding the offense of failure to report a crime, and offering civil and criminal immunity to anyone who comes forward to report misconduct.

Instead of changing guidelines for reporting, Snyder-Hill said, lawmakers should be reforming the statute of limitations and public records law. He noted Ohio law already required OSU to turn over documents related to his own abuse. The Ohio Court of Claims determined the school ignored those requirements. The result? Ohio State paid a $25 fine.

“All the legislation in the world isn’t going to stop them unless the laws put harsh penalties against organizations like OSU that just ignores the rules,” Snyder-Hill said.

“Nothing in this bill holds corrupt organizations like OSU accountable.”

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

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