Centura Health says it notified patients that a former doctor at a clinic it owns in Westminster was arrested in a child pornography case, but had not alerted them to allegations the physician secretly videotaped naked boys as young as 11 during physical exams.
Justin NeislerSpokesman Dan Wawrzyn said Thursday that Centura Health has contacted any patients at the St. Anthony North Family Medicine — 84th clinic that Dr. Justin Neisler “had contact with and informed them of the situation.”
But, Wawrzyn said, Centura Health had been unaware of allegations that Neisler “admitted to surreptitiously videotaping” undressed boys as he was providing care to them, according to court records made public this week.
The documents do not say where Neisler is alleged to have made those recordings. He has ties to multiple health institutions in the Denver area, including Denver Health and Rose Family Medicine Residency Clinic, through his residency program.
“We’re not going to speculate that he was filming on our” campus, Wawrzyn said. “We know patients saw him and wanted to make them aware of that.”
Wawrzyn declined to say how many people Centura Health has notified, citing patient privacy. Centura Health previously said Neisler worked for the health system for less than nine months before being fired earlier this month.
“Our view of it is, it’s very saddening to us,” Wawrzyn said.
Neisler, 31, of Denver, was arrested by FBI agents on March 13 on suspicion of knowingly transporting child pornography in interstate commerce. He is in federal custody and is being held without bond as he is prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Denver.
Court documents said “a review of (Neisler’s) videos reflected that the defendant appeared to gain sexual gratification from the examinations.”
On Thursday, a Colorado Medical Board panel suspended Neisler’s medical license, effective at 5 p.m. and until the resolution of the case. Neisler still has an active medical license in Georgia, records show.
It is unclear if any complaints about Neisler have been filed with the Colorado Medical Board. Complaints that are part of a medical board investigation are confidential unless disciplinary action has been taken by the board, said Lee Rasizer, a spokesperson with the Department of Regulatory Agencies.
Martin Stuart, an attorney representing Neisler, declined to comment for this story.
In a statement on Tuesday, Centura Health said it had “engaged a third-party to conduct a thorough review of the systems and processes in all our graduate medical education programs.”
Neisler also worked at Rose Family Medicine Residency Clinic from March 2017 to June 2018. He was not an employee of Rose Medical Center, but was a resident with the University of Colorado School of Medicine, spokeswoman Julie Hogan said.
When asked if the medical center had notified patients about the case, Hogan said, “At this time, we do not know the identity of any Rose patients who were allegedly victimized by Neisler, nor do we know if any Rose patients were victimized.”
“We believe speculative notification would create unnecessary worry and panic to our patient family,” she said, adding that the FBI planned to reach out to those affected.
Neisler became a second-year resident at the CU School of Medicine after transferring from a program in Georgia. There were no reports of misconduct by Neisler during his time as a resident, said Mark Couch, communications director for the CU School of Medicine.
An archived page about Neisler that has been removed from George Washington University’s website said he worked on a project to “quantify the environment toward LGBT people” in health care facilities. He had plans to pilot the tool in the emergency departments of Denver Health Medical Center and the University of Colorado Hospital, according to the page.
George Washington University representatives did not immediately return requests for comment. Officials with UCHealth did not immediately return requests for comment.
Neisler had “intermittent rotations” at Denver Health during his medical residency training in 2017, and the medical center is looking to see if he had any involvement in other programs or research, spokeswoman Rachel Hirsch said in an emailed statement.
“As a safety net health care system, we are deeply troubled by the allegations against Dr. Neisler as they are fundamentally at odds with our values and how we treat our patients,” she said.
