TRENTON, N.J. (1010 WINS) — A New Jersey OB-GYN had his medical license temporarily suspended after two patients who have been in his care for decades alleged that he inappropriately touched them during exams last year, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced on Tuesday.
Bruce Pierce, who practiced at Delaware Valley OB-GYN & Princeton Midwifery in Lawrenceville, is accused of engaging in professional misconduct, gross negligence and incompetence, and violations of other State Board of Medical Examiners regulations.
The first incident allegedly occurred in January 2023 and involved a woman who testified that Pierce had been her OB-GYN since the mid-1990s. In the complaint, the woman alleges that after a standard breast, pelvic and rectal exam in the presence of a female chaperone, Pierce dismissed the chaperone and asked to repeat the exam.
“Sometimes things change as we get older,” Pierce allegedly said when she asked why another exam was necessary. He is accused of inappropriately touching her during that second exam.
The second incident allegedly happened in December 2023 and involved another female patient. During her visit, the woman underwent an ultrasound by a lab technician and then went into an examination room where Pierce joined her.
According to her complaint, Pierce said that the woman's ultrasound looked good and asked if she wanted a female chaperone to join them for her exam, which she declined. Pierce is then accused of inappropriately touching her during that exam.
The conduct made her increasingly uncomfortable, which prompted the woman to ask him to stop. He complied.
The first patient reported Pierce to the Lawrence Township Police, and both patients reported him to the Board following their respective alleged assaults. They testified in front of the Board on Nov. 13, 2024, and it unanimously suspended Pierce’s medical license pending the outcome of a hearing in the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law.
“We found each patient’s testimony to be credible, chilling, and compelling,” the Board wrote in its Order. It also said that their statements “detail incidents where [Pierce] sexually abused them, thereby shattering the trust placed upon him as a doctor and abusing that trust to enable him to act instead as a sexual predator.”
The Board also referred to text messages between the second patient and Pierce that the attorney general said “fully corroborated” her testimony and “offered and demonstrated consciousness of guilt by Pierce.”
The second patient testified that she initially felt comfortable declining a female chaperone for her exam as she had been seeing Pierce for 20 years, and he delivered her children.
After coming to terms with the alleged misconduct, the attorney general said that the patient texted Pierce that she was experiencing feelings of “fury and disgust,” realized his behavior was “unprofessional and unacceptable” and said that he, as her long-time doctor, “abused her good faith.”
She informed him that she would not be using his practice again, and said she was concerned about him engaging in misconduct with others.
On the same day, the attorney general said that Pierce responded with a message that read: “Okay, I’m so sorry, I upset you. It will never happen again I do value our 20 plus year doctor patient relationship. Thank you for not making it public. My career will be over, and I don’t know what I would do. I hope you can forgive me. This will never happen again. I understand that you are leaving the practice, but I hope you will reconsider and give me one more chance.”
Pierce’s defense attorneys argued that the attorney general had not met the statutory burden of demonstrating that Pierce's continued practice created a clear and imminent danger to the public health, safety and welfare; that he wouldn’t have had time to engage in the alleged conduct; and that the attorney general's application for medical suspension should be rejected because the incidents happened at least a year ago.
“[Pierce] engaged in conduct, which is entirely antithetical to medical practice, and runs wholly afoul of all physician’s obligations to do no harm to their patients,” the Board said in its Order granting the suspension. “That conduct unquestionably presents a continuing and immediate danger to any and all of [Pierce’s] patients.”
Patients who believe that they have been treated by a licensed health care professional in an inappropriate manner can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer Affairs by visiting its website or by calling 1-800-242-5846 (toll-free within New Jersey) or 973-504-6200.
If you are a victim of sexual assault, contact the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 or online.rainn.org. New York State residents may call the New York State Domestic & Sexual Violence Hotline at 800-942-6906. New Jersey residents may call the Statewide Sexual Violence Hotline at 800-601-7200.