Kaiser Permanente psychiatrist Stephen Melcher sentenced for child molestation

May 31, 2012

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A Sacramento doctor was convicted last week for molesting an 11-year-old boy, but he apparently practiced for months after his arrest while out on bail.

Dr. Stephen Melcher is a former employee at Kaiser Permanente. He was arrested last December, but nobody there knew about it until he pleaded no contest in April.

Melcher has been a licensed doctor in California for two decades, but for months he was able to see patients despite an arrest for a sex crime against a child.

“Obviously, we can’t act on something we don’t know about, and in this case we did not have a complaint filed with us,” the California Medical Board’s Dan Wood said Wednesday. “The police department was conducting their own investigation and it was up to them to tell us.”

According to medical board documents, Dr. Melcher molested an 11-year-old boy during a dinner party at his Land Park home last October. He was arrested in December and pleaded no contest in April.

Then last Friday, a judge sentenced him to a year in jail.

“This just came about here in the last few weeks,” Wood said. “He’s agreed to stipulate to surrender his license.”

Nobody answered at Melcher’s Land Park home on Wednesday.

Kaiser issued the following statement on Wednesday:

“Dr. Melcher is no longer with Kaiser Permanente. The charges against Dr. Melcher relate to an incident that occurred in a social situation outside of Kaiser Permanente and his medical practice.

“Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan must take into account the legal and due process rights of employees and physicians while they await adjudication. Dr. Melcher’s practice involved only adults. We evaluated Dr. Melcher’s practice and confirmed that the charges against him related to an incident that occurred in a social situation outside of Kaiser Permanente and his medical practice. He resigned on March 19.”

Source: "Kaiser doctor practiced after arrested on sex charge," CBS-13 Sacramento, CA, May 30, 2012.