5/27/08 (CA):
Podiatrist faces charges
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Was Fresno foot doctor Matthew Sciaroni just doing his job when he conducted breast examinations and checked the lymph nodes in female patients' groin areas? Or was it part of a long pattern of molesting women and girls under the guise of being a good doctor?
Sciaroni, 53, is on trial, charged with nine felonies, including child molestation and sexual battery. A jury began deliberations Tuesday in Fresno County Superior Court. If convicted, the podiatrist faces up to seven years in prison.
In closing arguments Tuesday morning, prosecutor Galen Rutiaga said that the eight women who testified during the two-week trial couldn't all be wrong. But defense attorney Steven Smith urged jurors to evaluate each witness independently. He said Sciaroni may not have been the most caring or careful doctor -- he sometimes treated patients abruptly and didn't keep the best medical records -- but he was not guilty of a crime.
Smith doesn't dispute that Sciaroni conducted breast examinations on some of his adult female patients, but he said they were for legitimate medical reasons.
"I told you we'd learn something new in this trial," Smith told jurors. "A podiatrist can do a breast examination under their scope of practice. Who'd have thought?"
He also said that Sciaroni's examinations of female patients' lymph nodes in the groin area was a necessary precaution for some patients who reported a history of disease or other irregularities.
Some of the women testified that Sciaroni also tried to kiss them. One woman said that when she was a teenager, the doctor smacked her on the buttocks as she was leaving the office. The Bee is not identifying the women because they are alleged victims of sexual assault.
Some of the patients didn't return to Sciaroni's office after the incidents, but many of them did. Smith said that was evidence that nothing inappropriate occurred.
Rutiaga disagreed.
"They just thought it was part of the procedure," he said.
Ultimately, one of the patients, a teenager who saw Sciaroni for more than five years and is now an adult, called police after Sciaroni tried to kiss her, she testified. After news media reported the doctor's arrest, seven other women contacted police and said they, too, were touched inappropriately.
The woman who initially called police has filed a lawsuit against Sciaroni.
"She has a reason to lie," Smith told jurors. "It's her lawsuit. It's about money."
But Rutiaga said the woman would have embellished her story more if she was lying. He noted that the other women who testified haven't filed lawsuits.
Rutiaga also reminded jurors that one of Sciaroni's employees testified that she once walked into the doctor's room and saw him inappropriately touching a 15-year-old girl. But Smith said the employee was a "rookie" who jumped to conclusions about what she saw even though she had no medical training.
Much of the trial centered on four podiatrists who testified as expert witnesses. Three were hired by the prosecution to testify and one by the defense.
Smith said the doctors offered conflicting opinions. Rutiaga said it seemed that only the defense's expert helped Sciaroni's case. He said Smith was trying to misconstrue the other doctors' testimony.
Sciaroni, who has practiced medicine since 1986, was investigated in 2000 by the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which issues licenses for doctors, dentists, contractors and others. He was accused of improper contact with patients and was placed on probation for five years. As a condition of his probation, Sciaroni was required to have a staff member in the room whenever he examined a patient.
Two staff members testified that they were in the room whenever Sciaroni examined his patients, according to Smith. But Rutiaga said they were lying to the jury out of loyalty to Sciaroni.
With thanks, © Fresno Bee, 2008
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