State board lifts restriction on a Fort Lauderdale doctor accused of molestation
MAY 12 UPDATE: The emergency restriction order (ERO) was lifted from Dr. Joseph Astaphan by the Board of Medicine’s Probable Cause Panel reviewed the complaint a second time after receiving additional evidence on May 6.
ORIGINAL STORY: A Fort Lauderdale doctor can’t see female patients until he is cleared of a laser hair removal patient’s accusation that he put his ungloved fingers in her vagina.
The emergency restriction order (ERO) on Dr. Joseph Astaphan, owner of Silk Laser Aesthetics Centre, 924 N. Federal Hwy., came down last Wednesday.
The ERO might be followed by a Florida Department of Health administrative complaint, which would start the disciplinary process. Astaphan’s online Florida Department of Health profile shows no other disciplinary matters since gaining his Florida license in April 1988.
“Dr. Astaphan is a Board-certified physician and has been licensed in the State of Florida for over 30 years with an unblemished record,” reads an email from Astaphan’s Miami Beach-based attorney, Sean Ellsworth. “He steadfastly denies the allegations made against him and is seeking the earliest possible trial date so he can establish his innocence.”
For now, this is only a professional discipline matter. Online Broward County court records show no filing of criminal charges or a civil lawsuit.
What the patient says happened at Silk Laser on Jan. 4
According to the ERO, which reflects the patient’s account:
Standard procedure says “A.B.,” Astaphan’s medical assistant, will be in the treatment room for all laser hair removal treatments. A.B.’s the one who puts aloe or sunscrean on patients and helps Astaphan “by spreading the patients’ skin, vagina and/or buttocks so that Dr. Astaphan can laser specific areas on a patient’s body.”
As for Astaphan, he wears a glove on the hand that touches patients and holds the laser bare-handed.
All of the above would have been familiar to the 32-year-old patient. She had been a regular Silk Laser patient by the time she came on Jan. 4 for laser hair removal of her underarms, breasts, vaginal area and anus.
“During the treatment of [the patient’s] vaginal area, the laser hair removal machine shut off,” the ERO said. “After the laser hair removal machine shut off, A.B. applied aloe to the treated areas of [the] vaginal area and left the treatment room. Dr. Astaphan closed the door behind A.B. and remained in the treatment room with” the patient.
“A.B. did not return to the treatment room during the remainder of [the patient’s] laser hair removal treatment session.”
The ERO says Astaphan applied aloe on and in the patient’s vagina, where A.B. had just applied it, and inserted at least one finger into her vagina, both with his bare hand.
“Dr. Astaphan looked back at [the patient] with a smirk on his face and a “look” in his eyes,” the ERO said. “Dr. Astaphan looked aroused, like he was getting pleasure out of touching, feeling and looking.”
The patient told Astaphan “that is enough” and pushed his arm away. She pulled down her dress and went to the restroom. When she returned for the rest of the treatment, she thought A.B. would be there. Instead, only she and Astaphan were in the room and the door was closed.
After she rejected his suggestion of more aloe to the vaginal area, “Dr. Astaphan proceeded to take [the patient’s] breasts out of her dress with his ungloved hand(s) and used his ungloved hand(s) to apply aloe to her areola area.”
The patient wondered why Astaphan did anything with her breasts, as he’d lasered them already.
When the laser hair removal machine restarted, the ERO said Astaphan told the patient to turn over onto her stomach. When Astaphan put his hand on her vagina and tried to insert his fingers again, the patient “stopped Dr. Astaphan and told him, “We’re finished.”
The patient “was still shocked, uncomfortable and couldn’t believe what Dr. Astaphan had done.”
The ERO says Astaphan gave her a hug at Silk Laser’s front desk.
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 11:43 AM with the headline "State board lifts restriction on a Fort Lauderdale doctor accused of molestation."
