Allina bans Twin Cities plastic surgeon amid latest of several sexual misconduct allegations

A plastic surgeon previously reprimanded for sexual misconduct with a female client is now under state investigation for at least a fourth time on groping allegations that have him newly banned from performing surgery at numerous Twin Cities hospitals.

At least six women have now leveled accusations since 2008 against Dr. Christopher Kovanda, who continues to hold the license he was first issued in 1999. The total includes two patients suing for malpractice within the past 15 months.

One complaint filed with the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice accused Kovanda of having sex with one of his patients and led to a reprimand in 2011. Two others were investigated by the board and "closed without action," said Ruth Martinez, the panel's executive director.

The board last month acknowledged one open complaint against Kovanda and is on the lookout for more, while an attorney for one of the women suing the doctor said his client also has a complaint pending with the panel.

Kovanda has been investigated by police at least once but never charged with a crime. Although he can't perform surgeries, he can conduct other procedures and continues to practice at Lakeside Center on Excelsior Boulevard in Minneapolis.

Kovanda declined to be interviewed. His attorney, Nicole Brand, also did not answer questions and chose to issue a statement: "As a board-certified physician, Dr. Kovanda provides the highest level of care to his patients to help them achieve their medical goals. Out of respect for both the ongoing legal process and the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice's review, we will not be addressing the specifics of the cases at this time, but we can say the allegations being made are without merit."

Azza AbuDagga, a health services researcher for the Public Citizen consumer watchdog group, reviewed the medical board's public disciplinary filings and other documents involving Kovanda at the request of the Star Tribune and said, "Unfortunately, this case is an epitome of how sexually abusive doctors are tolerated by state medical boards and others who regulate doctors."

AbuDagga, who has for years examined physician sexual abuse and other areas of misconduct, added, "By issuing only a reprimand against this doctor and imposing conditions on his license in 2011 after several complaints of sexual abuse of patients — including sexual intercourse with a patient that the doctor admitted to — the board has boldly put the interest of this doctor above the interest of victims and the entire public.

"I am not surprised that more patients are coming forward with more recent complaints. ... Had the board done the right thing in 2011 and permanently revoked the license of this doctor, the trail of new victims could have been prevented."

Martinez declined to respond to AbuDagga's critique of the medical board's handling of complaints against Kovanda.

The 55-year-old doctor previously practiced in the 50th & France retail district of Edina as Kovanda Plastic Surgery and before that as a partner at Midwest Plastic Surgery in the Southdale Medical Building, also in Edina.

Details from one pending complaint were released by the board July 15 in a Notice of Hearing. Martinez said that "our whole reason for publishing [the notice] is to see if there are other people out there who are suffering similar situations."

The notice quickly cost Kovanda his surgical privileges at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and the 13 other locations run by Allina Health, said a spokesperson for the health care provider.

Kovanda had been practicing at Abbott since 2016, but that ended July 16, when "we were made aware of the licensing board's notice" publicized a day earlier about a new accuser, read a statement released by Allina Health.

The notice is based on a complaint filed with the board in November 2018 by a woman who alleges that during multiple postoperative visits, Kovanda "made inappropriate and sexual contact" with her during July of that year.

She accused him of directing her to fully undress except for her high heels before he "suggestively caressed" her bare back and hips, pressed his groin against her from behind and then lifted her breasts in front of a full-length mirror.

At other times, according to the woman, he touched her genitals while adjusting a postoperative garment and hugged her while her breasts were exposed.

Kovanda met with the board in October 2019 and "stated that he treated [the woman] differently than all his other patients [and] admitted that [she] might have perceived his actions as sexual," the notice read. He also acknowledged that he learned during a course he was ordered to take as part of his earlier discipline that hugging patients was a violation of professional boundaries.

The women who filed the three earlier complaints with the medical board presented similar accusations against Kovanda, according to the panel's disciplinary records.

One complaint filed in January 2011 led to Kovanda acknowledgment of having sex with the patient and prompted the reprimand that required him for three years to among other things have a female monitor present during all appointments with female patients and take a professional boundaries course.

While the other two complaints alleging "inappropriate sexual conduct, including suggestive language and suggestive touching," were investigated by the board and drew no discipline, the facts in the complaints were allowed to be considered true by the board as part of its decision to reprimand Kovanda based on the third woman's accusations.

Martinez said the regulatory panel passed on temporarily suspending Kovanda's license upon receiving the complaint leading to his reprimand because "we have to perceive an imminent risk of serious harm. … It isn't something that is used lightly."

One of the two complaints that stalled with the board also was investigated in 2009 by Edina police, but prosecutors declined to charge him.

The woman alleged that during one postoperative visit with Kovanda at Midwest Plastic Surgery, he "excitedly told her at least twice, 'You look great,' " as she sat unclothed from the waist up, according to police records released to the Star Tribune last week.

She said she returned for a second visit and he had her take off her shirt and bra, touched her hips and buttocks, and twice pressed against her while he was sexually aroused, the police report read.

The woman later met with a therapist, who found that the woman "appeared to be someone who had been sexually assaulted" and exhibited bouts of panic and "crying episodes," the police report quoted the therapist as saying.

Kovanda denied the allegations. When asked by an officer whether it was odd for him to be accused again of overstepping boundaries with a patient, he said, " 'I do, and I think that, um, I have ... allowed myself to be vulnerable, um, to patients, and I am changing my practice drastically,' " read the doctor's response in the police report.

Kovanda was sued by one of his former patients in May 2020, and she also filed a complaint with the board, said her attorney, Jeffrey Montpetit. The board has declined to confirm receiving her complaint, which would push the overall total to five against Kovanda since 2008.

The woman in her lawsuit alleged that during follow-up visits to Kovanda after her surgery in June 2018 that he gave her "full body hugs" while she was naked and with no one else present. He also ran his hands along her thighs and pressed his body against hers, she further alleged.

Kovanda filed a response denying the lawsuit's allegations, and a confidential settlement was reached out of court, Montpetit said.

Another woman sued Kovanda in April 2021. While her malpractice and personal injury suit lacks similar specifics, it does allege that she was victimized sexually at his 50th & France office and left with "severe and permanent psychological and emotional distress, humiliation, loss of self-esteem and other psychological injuries."

Kovanda also is in trouble with federal authorities over his bankruptcy filing in June 2020. An attorney on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department's Office of the U.S. Trustee, is accusing the doctor of claiming financial hardship resulting from the pandemic and obtaining a $66,800 CARES Act loan from the government shortly before filing for bankruptcy and using the loan's proceeds to pay off personal debts and fraudulently concealing those payments from the court.

According to the trustee, Kovanda used the money to pay off almost $24,000 on a home equity line of credit and another $10,000 to pay off a car loan. He also covered other debts and banked about $15,000 of the remaining money in his 401(k). By the end of July 2020, just $703 was left from the loan.

The trustee also is accusing Kovanda of fraudulently concealing another source of income that could have been used to pay off his creditors: a rental property that yielded more than $8,000 in 2020 after he filed for bankruptcy. The trustee said Kovanda lied under oath about the transactions and concealed ownership of several guns. A trial date in February is scheduled.

His bankruptcy attorney, Barbara May, filed a response to the allegations that said Kovanda was only following the advice of a previous lawyer whose counsel "constituted blatant malpractice."

Star Tribune staff writer Jeff Meitrodt contributed to this report. Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482