The Associated Press State & Local Wire

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January 5, 2006, Thursday, BC cycle

North Dakota medical board bars Minnesota doctor

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 195 words

DATELINE: BISMARCK, N.D.

The state’s medical watchdog panel has barred a Minnesota doctor from practicing medicine in North Dakota.
The state Board of Medical Examiners said it permanently suspended the license of Dr. Edwin Johnson, a psychiatrist, for having sex with a patient.
Johnson, 54, of Pelican Rapids, Minn., had a sexual relationship with a patient between 2001 and 2004, the board said.
Johnson signed board documents admitting to the allegations, said board executive secretary Rolf Sletten.
The board said Johnson continued to prescribe drugs and provide treatment for the patient during the sexual relationship. Sex with a patient is a violation of the state’s Medical Practice Act.
Sletten said Johnson had practices in Grand Forks, Fargo and Minnesota.
“Some of the sexual behavior occurred in North Dakota,” Sletten said.
A therapist in Minnesota notified the medical board there about the sexual relationship and “we subsequently found out about it,” Sletten said.
The Minnesota medical board has taken similar action against Johnson, he said.
The North Dakota medical board took action against Johnson at a special meeting Dec. 29, Sletten said.