Doctor loses job at Erie County Health Department

SANDUSKY — An Erie County Health Department doctor with a troubled past was forced out of his job Wednesday.Dr. Patrick Dennison, D.O., quit at 8 a.m. Wednesday after being asked to resign by the health board, said Pete Schade, the health commissioner. The board discussed Dennison during a health board meeting Tuesday evening.Dennison's license to practice medicine was suspended in 2005 and 2006 after allegations of sexual impropriety with three patients, but Schade said those allegations had nothing to do with Dennison's exit. Schade said he concluded weeks ago Dennison was not a team player and did not work well with other employees at the health department, and with outside agencies. The health department has not received any complaints about improper actions by Dennison, Schade said.Schade said the health department employed Dennison as a family practice physician since Oct. 2, 2017, for the health department's community health clinic.He said care at the clinic is based on a team concept, referring patients to the dental clinic or to other areas of care as needed, and he did not think Dennison was working out."You're either a team player or you're not," Schade said.The health commissioner said he had decided to bring back Dr. Craig Eldridge, another family practice doctor who had worked for the health department before and will return next week. The health department will hire nurse practitioners or physician assistants to supplement Eldridge, Schade said.Schade said he asked Dennison to resign on Wednesday morning, and Dennison agreed.If Dennison did not agree to quit, "I would have been prepared for another alternative," Schade said.Dennison historySchade said the health department was aware of Dennison's past when it hired him last year."We took a chance on him," Schade said. "We had no issues pertaining to those circumstances while he was employed here."Schade said the medical board said it was OK for Dennison to be hired.Minutes from Ohio's medical board show in 2013 he was released from the terms of his 2008 consent agreement with the board after making it through five years of probation.Dennison's medical license first got into trouble in 2004, when it was alleged he "engaged in sexual contact with a patient while he was treating her for conditions including depression," according to online records about his license history.In 2005, his license was suspended for at least one year.In 2006, he got into more trouble over sex with two more patients, with his license suspended for at least one year. That was "based on doctor's admission of making false, fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading statements to a board investigator; engaging in sexual contact with two specified patients; departing from the minimal standards of care with respect to treatment rendered to two specified patients; and violating the American Osteopathic Association Code of Ethics."In 2008, he got his medical license back but was put on probation for five years, until it was lifted in 2013.The 2008 probation agreement states: "Dr. Dennison shall be continuously accompanied by a chaperone at all times when interacting with female patients for any purpose at any location, except in the case of a life-threatening emergency wherein Dr. Dennison shall be accompanied by a chaperone as soon as reasonably practicable."Reach reporter Tom Jackson at jackson@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @jacksontom.Dr. Patrick Dennison, D.O.