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THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
___________________________
Board of Medicine
No. 96-076
APPEAL OF EDWARD L. ROWAN, M.D.
(New Hampshire Board of Medicine)
June 5, 1997
John D. MacIntosh, of Concord (on the brief and orally), for the petitioner.
Steven M. Houran, acting attorney general (Douglas N. Jones, assistant attorney general, on the brief and orally), for the State.
HORTON, J. The petitioner, Edward L. Rowan, M.D., appeals the actions of the New Hampshire Board of Medicine (board) in imposing various sanctions on him for professional misconduct. We affirm.
In October 1993, the board received a letter from Ms. R., a former patient of the petitioner, who alleged that the petitioner had engaged in a sexual relationship with her during the previous two years while she was his patient. Ms. R. also claimed to have knowledge that the petitioner was planning to move to New Zealand. In November 1993, Ms. R. wrote a second letter to the board withdrawing her complaint. On its own initiative the board issued an order commencing a formal investigation in January 1994. The board sought information concerning not only Ms. R.'s claims, but also the procedures the petitioner used to close his practice and refer his patients to other practitioners.
The petitioner relocated to New Zealand in early 1994 and communicated with the board through his New Hampshire attorney. For several months the petitioner's attorney, the board, and its hearing counsel engaged in correspondence concerning the information and records sought in the board's order. The petitioner declined to produce materials concerning Ms. R. or the closure of his New Hampshire practice, asserting first that the withdrawal of the complaint precluded further inquiry by the board, and later Ms. R.'s lack of consent to disclosure and the absence of a specific complaint as to the closure of his practice.
On May 25, 1994, the board's hearing counsel issued a subpoena for the information. The petitioner complied in part by providing a list of steps taken to close his practice, and moved to quash or modify the subpoena. The petitioner objected to the subpoena for the documents, records, and files of Ms. R. on several grounds, including: that the complaint had been withdrawn, that Ms. R. had instructed the petitioner not to disclose her confidential files based on her State statutory and State and federal constitutional privileges, that the board lacked authority under RSA 329:18 to issue a subpoena for confidential information shielded by RSA 329:26, and that 42 U.S.C.