The state revoked the license of an Orlando psychiatrist who was accused by three women of molestation.
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An Orlando psychiatrist banned from seeing female patients after being accused of molestation now can’t see any patients.
A 2025 state Board of Medicine final order that just posted on Feb. 16 revoked Dr. Iftikhar Rasul’s license.
Professional justice, as usual, moved at a more stately pace than criminal justice. The Florida Department of Health filed the first administrative complaint, which starts the discipline process, in January 2021 after the first accusation. The next two accusations were grouped in an April 2023 administrative complaint, which came a week after the emergency restriction order that prevented Rasul from seeing female patients.
READ MORE: Three patients say an Orlando psychiatrist molested them
On the criminal side, Orlando police arrested Rasul in November 2022 on one count of misdemeanor battery. In October 2023, Rasul went into a pre-trail diversion program, which he completed in April 2024. This allowed the case against him to be dismissed and disappear as a charge on May 8, 2024. That’s why the case no longer appears on the Orange County Clerk of the Court website.
No charges were filed regarding the two other accusers.
Each woman saw Rasul at his office, Serene Behavioral Health, 6150 Metrowest Blvd. Two described Rasul putting his stethoscope under their shirts and bras, then rubbing their breasts and nipples. Another said he grabbed her hand and guided it inside her bra. All said he did this after coming from around his desk, where he sat during appointments, to the leather couch where they sat.
Over three days of Zoom hearings in June 2024 before administrative-law judge Linzie Bogan, Rasul’s three accusers described inappropriate behavior and faced cross-examination from Rasul’s attorneys.
What follows comes from Bogan’s October 2024 report on the hearings and his conclusion.
READ MORE: A South Florida psychiatrist asked two patients to reveal their breasts, state says
Patient E.L.
E.L., a 19-year-old, had her first regular appointments with Rasul on Nov. 27, 2017, and her last on June 25, 2019, when she said Rasul used blood-pressure measurement to touch her inappropriately.
As this happened, E.L. testified, she was “shocked and leaned away from Dr. Rasul.” She said she didn’t stop at the reception desk to schedule her next appointment, just got to her car to get home. The drive was interrupted, she said, when a “panic attack” made her pull off the road.
“E.L. was shocked and overwhelmed by Dr. Rasul’s actions,” the report said. “She internalized what Dr. Rasul had done to her and did not talk about his actions until she disclosed the events to her therapist, Melinda Sowka, in January 2020.
“As a mandatory abuse reporter in the State of Florida, Ms. Sowka filled out and submitted a Department of Health complaint form” describing what E.L. told her.
On cross-examination, the report said, Rasul tried to discredit E.L. “by citing unfounded accusations of drug use. E.L. admitted that she had used marijuana in the past, but she denied ever having a drug problem.”
Also, Bogan noted that nothing in Rasul’s visit notes from June 25, 2019, mentioned E.L. being under any drug or drink influence.
Patient D.D.
D.D. began seeing Rasul as a 27-year-old on July 11, 2022.
D.D. said after Rasul ran his stethoscope and hand “all over” a breast and nipple, she “felt uncomfortable and froze,” the report said. “She felt ‘stupid’ and ‘ashamed’ of what was happening to her.”
D.D. called a friend upon leaving the office. The friend testified D.D. could barely talk while crying copious tears, tears noticed by an Orlando police detective later that day when D.D. reported Rasul.
While in the car waiting to go into the police station, D.D. said she searched online for Rasul’s name to see if any patient comments would help her make sense of what had just happened. She found the administrative complaint filed Jan. 8, 2021, from E.L.’s accusation.
Rasul’s attorney tried to use this admission to suggest D.D. just copied E.L’s accusation. Bogan said beyond the suggestion, Rasul’s side “offered no credible evidence” that D.D.’s allegations flowed from E.L.’s. Similarly, Bogan said Rasul offered nothing to back up his accusation that D.D. wanted money and had “repeatedly” asked him for money.
READ MORE: A Miami doctor tried to kidnap his ex-wife as she left her job
Patient A.B.
A.B., 25 when she began sessions with Rasul on Oct. 12, 2018, continued regular appointments until Nov. 2, 2020, when she said Rasul not only molested her, but pulled A.B.’s shirt and bra away from her body exposing her breast and nipple.
Bogan’s report said, “A.B. felt shocked and froze. She testified that she ‘just kind of just sat there’ because she didn’t know if what was happening was normal, and she didn’t know what to do.”
A.B. said once she left Rasul’s office, she cried in her car. From her car, she called Orlando police after calling her boyfriend. He backed up her testimony, that she told him, “I think I was assaulted.”
Rasul’s lawyers used money and business to question A.B.’s credibility. They said Rasul’s visit note from the Nov. 2, 2020, session claimed that A.B. asked for money from Rasul during the 2020 appointment. A.B. said she didn’t ask for money then, but in another session she did mention being in a tight financial situation and accepted $200 that Rasul offered. In other sessions, Rasul’s lawyers argued, A.B. unsuccessfully tried to sell Rasul health insurance.
“She testified that the conversation with Dr. Rasul about the insurance occurred organically during one of her appointments,” Bogan’s report said. “She never tried to persuade him to buy a policy.”
Bogan found, “Despite counsel’s attempts to discredit A.B. regarding the policy and alleged request for financial assistance, no credible evidence was offered to prove that A.B. was untruthful in her allegations against Dr. Rasul.”
Conclusions drawn
As for Rasul, Bogan found his testimony “not credible” or “distinctly remembered.”
“Dr. Rasul’s defense largely amounts to mere suggestions that the victims had ulterior motives in fabricating allegations against him and that, had they been true, his staff would have witnessed the illicit conduct,” Bogan wrote. “However, the testimony of Dr. Rasul and his other witnesses was largely unpersuasive and failed to rebut the credible testimony of the patients.”
After that summary, Bogan’s conclusion wasn’t a surprise.
“Each of these patients sought treatment from Dr. Rasul to help with mental health issues,” he wrote. “Dr. Rasul used his position as a psychiatrist to exploit their vulnerabilities and the trust they placed in him by inappropriately touching their breasts under the guise of checking their hearts.
“Revocation of Dr. Rasul’s medical license is the only appropriate penalty given the reprehensible nature of his repeated violations.”
Miami Herald
Since 1989, David J. Neal’s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about Panthers (NHL and FIU), Dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors and all manner of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He does not work Indianapolis 500 Race Day.