State suspends Twin Cities plastic surgeon who's been repeatedly accused of molesting female clients

A Minnesota regulatory board for the first time has suspended the license of a Twin Cities plastic surgeon who has been repeatedly accused of molesting female clients during appointments spanning years.

The state Board of Medical Practice's temporary suspension of Dr. Christopher Kovanda's license took effect Thursday and will be the subject of a closed-door hearing in the coming weeks.

Either through complaints with the medical board or in lawsuits, at least six women have accused Kovanda of sexual misconduct since 2008.

Kovanda, 56, was first licensed in Minnesota in 1999 and currently has a clinic in Minneapolis.

The board previously had reprimanded Kovanda twice, but until now he has never had his license suspended or revoked.

Kovanda has been conducting a "medical practice that is incompetent," reads the suspension letter posted on the doctor's license verification page. The letter goes on to say he has been "engaging in conduct with a patient which is sexual or may reasonably be interpreted by the patient as sexual."

Kovanda's attorney, Nicole Brand, said "it would not be appropriate to make Dr. Kovanda available for an interview at this time." She said the "allegations are without merit, and we look forward to vigorously defending the matter."

Jeff Montpetit, an attorney for a woman suing Kovanda for assault and medical malpractice, said he's pleased with the temporary suspension. "Frankly, it is long overdue. ... I am not sure what took the board so long," Montpetit said."

Board Executive Director Ruth Martinez has said in the past that a temporary suspension requires the regulatory board panel to perceive an imminent risk of serious harm. "It isn't something that is used lightly," she said.

"For a doctor to use his medical practice as a tool for luring women into a position where they are alone and vulnerable, so he can then do what he wants to them, is a deep betrayal of the doctor-patient relationship," said Michael Hall, the attorney for another woman suing Kovanda.

"I was relieved that [the suspension] was finally happening," Hall's client, who is at least the fifth woman to complain about Kovanda to the medical board, told the Star Tribune on Friday. "I didn't think it was possible. ... I hope that he never touches another human being again. I just want all his power taken away."

The woman was in her mid-20s when she went to Kovanda at his Edina office in late 2019 for breast augmentation. She told the board that Kovanda disrobed her without asking during pre-operation examinations, touched his legs to hers and placed his hands on her hips for too long a time.

The woman, a single mother to a kindergartner and an accounting professional, said Kovanda's conduct has been "very traumatic, and it's hard for me to be more social. It's definitely isolating when something like this happens."

Under questioning in a sworn deposition for the lawsuit in February, Kovanda repeatedly denied the woman's allegations.

Another woman told the board in November 2018 that Kovanda directed her to undress except for her high heels before he caressed her bare back and hips and pressed himself against her from behind.

Before setting up his practice in Minneapolis, the doctor operated Kovanda Plastic Surgery in Edina and before that was a partner at Midwest Plastic Surgery in the Southdale Medical Building.

Police have investigated Kovanda at least once — in that instance by Edina police. He was never charged with a crime.

After the medical board announced an investigation of Kovanda last July, he lost his surgical privileges at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and the 13 other locations run by Allina Health. He had been practicing at Abbott since 2016.