The medical license of retired obstetrician John Coates III was permanently revoked Friday, based on allegations from two women, DNA evidence and Coates’s own admission that he used his own semen to artificially inseminate them without their consent in the 1970s.
After investigating six counts of wrongdoing, the Vermont Board of Medical Practice reprimanded Coates, ordered him to pay a $4,000 fine, and revoked his license for “gross violation” of Vermont law and for misleading investigators.
Coates worked as an obstetrician and gynecologist at Central Vermont Hospital, now called Central Vermont Medical Center, in Berlin.
Allegations of misconduct came to light in 2018 when Cheryl and Peter Rousseau filed a lawsuit against Coates, alleging he used his own semen in 1977 to impregnate Cheryl without their knowledge or consent. In 2021, a second woman, Shirley Brown, accused Coates of near-identical misconduct in 1978.
In each instance, Coates said he would inseminate the women with donor material from an unnamed medical student, according to The Associated Press.
Coates did not attend a Feb. 2 hearing before the board, but his attorney, Peter Joslin, submitted a letter that read in part, “Dr. Coates retired from medical practice in 2008. He is now 80 years old. He is giving up his medical license permanently.”
Joslin did not respond to an email from VTDigger on Tuesday requesting comment.
David Herlihy, executive director of the Vermont Board of Medical Practice, described the revocation as a “relatively rare” move for the board, which takes 15 to 20 disciplinary actions annually.
The medical license of retired obstetrician John Coates III was permanently revoked Friday, based on allegations from two women, DNA evidence, and Coates’s own admission that he used his own semen to artificially inseminate them without their consent in the 1970s.
Corrections: An earlier version of this story misstated statistics about disciplinary actions taken by the Vermont Board of Medical Practice. Additionally, an instance of David Herlihy’s surname was misspelled. Information about the information the board used to reach its decision, and what it would do if more allegations surfaced, has been clarified.
