Pediatrician accused of abuse agrees to stop practicing medicine

A former Children's Hospital Boston pediatrician and best-selling author accused of sexually abusing as many as 50 boys will never practice medicine again, according to an agreement he signed yesterday with the medical board in North Carolina, where he has treated patients for more than 20 years.

The agreement bars Dr. Melvin D. Levine, 69, the former chief of ambulatory pediatrics at Children's Hospital, from ever seeking to reinstate his medical license in North Carolina or anywhere else.

"Dr. Levine admits that the board has evidence to support the accusation that he conducted inappropriate examinations," said Thomas Mansfield, legal director of the North Carolina Medical Board. "The result of this agreement is that Dr. Levine will never be able to examine another patient or practice medicine anywhere in the world."

A lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court last year accused Levine of abusing at least seven boys who came to him for treatment at Children's Hospital. The suit was filed by an unnamed plaintiff who was 8 years old when the alleged abuse began between 1980 and 1985.

Carmen Durso, a Boston lawyer who filed the suit, said dozens of other people have since said they were abused at Children's Hospital and elsewhere.

"Dr. Levine has agreed to permanently relinquish his license in the face of allegations by the board that the exams that he performed were not medically necessary, which has been his constant defense against the allegations," Durso said. "These are the doctor's peers, physicians who said he shouldn't have done this. My clients are very pleased that this has occurred."

In the agreement, Levine denied any wrongdoing, but the medical board said that it was prepared to present evidence at a hearing that he performed unnecessary genital exams on five patients in North Carolina, each of which was conducted outside the presence of a parent or guardian.

The board was prepared to present testimony that the exams "were not medically indicated and were either not documented in the medical record or, if documented, the documentation failed to conform to the standards of acceptable and prevailing medical practice," according to the agreement.

Alan Schneider, a North Carolina lawyer representing Levine, said the doctor "continues to adamantly deny the allegations and maintains that all examinations were medically necessary and performed in accordance with accepted medical practice."

He said fellow physicians, educators, former patients, and their parents sent letters to the board praising Dr. Levine's "extraordinary contributions and extolling his revolutionary influence on education and pediatrics."

Schneider called the agreement "an acceptable resolution" because a medical board hearing would have been "a major distraction" from Levine's other work, including his writing, international lecturing schedule, and his new Web-based learning institute.

Levine is not facing any criminal charges.

"He is not practicing medicine and he does not intend to practice medicine, now or in the future," Schneider said. "There are no findings that he engaged in what has been alleged."

Levine's Boston lawyer, Edward Mahoney, argued that the agreement in North Carolina would not affect the lawsuit he is facing in Boston. The case remains in the discovery phase.

"The agreement . . . will have no impact whatsoever on the Massachusetts proceedings," Mahoney said in a statement. "Dr. Levine continues to adamantly deny the allegations."

Last year, Levine voluntarily stopped seeing patients at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

He was a professor in the department of pediatrics at the university between 1987 and 2006. Until the allegations surfaced, Levine held an unpaid appointment as an adjunct professor at the university, continuing to see patients twice a month, university officials said.

They said yesterday that Levine is no longer associated with the university.

"We are pleased that there was a resolution of the matter with the medical board, and our first concern in all this matter has been our patients," said Karen McCall, a spokeswoman for the university's School of Medicine.

She said the university has not heard of anyone saying that Levine abused patients while he was a doctor there.

"We have not received any lawsuits," McCall said. "We have not been able to investigate any claims, because no one has reported any claims to us."

Levine, who has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to promote his books, worked at Children's Hospital between 1971 and 1985, specializing in children with developmental and educational issues.

Officials at Children's Hospital declined to comment on the allegations.

"We take any allegations of abuse seriously," Elizabeth Andrews, director of public affairs at the hospital, said in a statement yesterday. "Children's Hospital's most important goal is to protect children's health and promote their well-being. Our staff is trained and experienced in detecting abuse and mistreatment of children. Such behavior, if identified, is treated with the utmost seriousness and addressed immediately."

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.