DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch) – An Iowa-licensed surgeon accused of “perverted” and unprofessional conduct while practicing in another state is now facing sanctions from Iowa regulators.
The Iowa Board of Medicine has charged Dr. Thomas F. Satterly, an orthopedic surgeon who practiced in western Iowa during 2023 and 2024, with unprofessional conduct, violating the laws or rules governing the practice of the profession and with failure to report out-of-state discipline as required by law.
A board hearing on the charges is scheduled for July 9, 2026.
Board records indicate Satterly was first licensed to practice in Iowa in September 2023, and that his license to work in Iowa expires in November 2026.
As is customary with all of Iowa’s licensing boards, the Board of Medicine has not publicly disclosed any information as to the alleged conduct that gave rise to the charges against Satterly or indicated when or where the conduct is alleged to have occurred.
However, records from the Kentucky Board of Medicine show that in 2025, Satterly was sanctioned in that state after John Ballard, CEO of Frankfurt Regional Medical Center, filed a grievance alleging unprofessional conduct that undermined the hospital’s culture of safety and was tied to sexually suggestive commentary and conduct.
According to the Kentucky board, the Frankfurt Regional Medical Center had imposed an immediate precautionary suspension of Satterly’s privileges at the hospital, after which the privileges were automatically relinquished due to Satterly’s alleged loss of professional liability insurance.
According to the board, the hospital staff had made several allegations against Satterly, including:
Unnecessarily pulling back and taping a patient’s genitals for an X-ray and “making crude, unprofessional and perverted comments about the size of the patient’s “package.”Making “sexual, perverted and derogatory jokes/comments such as, ‘I haven’t had a good screw in a while,’” after a female colleague provided instruction as to what screw to use in a procedure.Mimicking masturbation through hand gestures.Causing a patient pain by aggressively moving the patient’s broken ankle while telling the individual to “relax” and “just listen to me.”
While there’s no public record of the Iowa Board of Medicine having sanctioned Satterly in the past, the Kentucky board alleged, without elaborating, that in the past Satterly had been “terminated from multiple positions due to inappropriate/lewd sexual comments and sexually suggestive behavior.”
A board-ordered evaluation allegedly attributed his conduct to “immature and misguided attempts to forge connections” with others, the board alleged. A subsequent seven-week treatment program resulted in a report that found Satterly was fit to return to practice, according to the Kentucky board.
In October 2025, Satterly moved to West Virginia where he resumed his practice of medicine. In December 2025, Satterly’s Kentucky license was placed on probationary status for five years.
Hospital records indicate that in 2023, Satterly worked for Miller Orthopedic Specialists in Council Bluff and in 2024 joined Clarinda Regional Health Center as one of its healthcare providers.
Federal records indicate Satterly now practices in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and is affiliated with several hospitals in the area, including Berkeley Medical Center. The Iowa Capital Dispatch was not able to reach Satterly for comment.
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