A longtime internist who founded a chain of Southern California clinics has surrendered his medical license after an accusation from the state medical board that he sexually assaulted three patients, two of whom worked for his clinics.
Dr. Mohammad Rasekhi signed an agreement to give up his medical license last month, weeks after the Medical Board of California filed an accusation against him detailing allegations that Rasekhi sexually abused three women while they were under his care.
Rasekhi denies all the allegations, his attorney Peter Osinoff said this week. He chose to waive his rights to a hearing and retire from medicine, a decision Osinoff said his client had been considering for some time.
“For him to spend his retirement money litigating over a license he no longer uses is not a good use of money,” Osinoff said. The surrender took effect Dec. 2.
Rasekhi was the founder and chief medical officer of Southern California Medical Center, a group of general practice clinics with locations in El Monte, Van Nuys, Pico Rivera, Woodland Hills, Pomona and Long Beach.
Sheila Busheri, co-founder of Southern California Medical Center and Rasekhi’s spouse, declined to comment.
In a document filed Oct. 3, the state medical board accused Rasekhi of sexual exploitation and gross negligence in his treatment of three patients.
The first became a primary care patient of Rasekhi’s around 2005, when she was 12 years old. In 2016, she accepted a job at SCMC while still seeing Rasekhi for her medical care.
Soon after, Rasekhi began making sexually suggestive comments to her at work, the document states. These progressed to unwanted sexual contact the woman endured for fear of losing her job, according to the complaint. The abuse continued until she went on medical leave in 2020.
The medical board reviewed records of the woman’s doctor appointments with Rasekhi. According to her chart, Rasekhi performed breast exams on the patient during visits for seemingly unrelated complaints such as back pain and hair loss, the accusation states.
“Respondent denied performing breast exams during those visits and conceded that the medical record does not accurately reflect the details about the visit or the examinations actually performed,” the complaint states.
A second patient began seeing Rasekhi in 2016 at the age of 62. In September 2017, the complaint states, Rasekhi arrived unannounced at the patient’s home.
“After entering Patient 2’s home and without Patient 2’s consent and over Patient 2’s protests, Respondent made sexual advances towards, and had sexual contact with, Patient 2,” the complaint said.
A third patient was employed at SCMC from 2007 to 2017, and became a patient of Rasekhi’s in 2015. Rasekhi made frequent suggestive comments at work that escalated into advances and sexual contact that continued until her resignation, the complaint stated.
A woman whose employment dates matched those of the third patient settled with Rasekhi, Busheri and SCMC for $3.5 million in 2019, according to a report in the Daily Journal.