AURORA | A University of Colorado Hospital resident doctor is facing a felony sex charge after police say he groped a patient’s penis as the patient lie unable to see in a hospital bed following surgery.
Matthew Uhlenkott, 31, an anesthesiology resident, was arrested last fall and charged with unlawful sexual contact, a class 4 felony that typically carries a sentence of between one and three years in prison.
Uhlenkott was in a residency program at University of Colorado School of Medicine and practicing medicine at the hospital at the time of the incident.
Dan Meyers, a spokesman for the medical school, said Uhlenkott joined CU as a resident in January 2012 and resigned in January 2013.
“We have cooperated with the investigation into this matter, and will continue to do so,” Meyers said.
Dan Weaver, a spokesman for the hospital, said Uhlenkott no longer works at the hospital.
“Patient safety and security are the top priorities at the University of Colorado Hospital. The alleged actions are inexcusable, and the accused person was immediately suspended from all duties at the hospital as soon as the incident was reported and is now permanently barred from practicing at UCH,” weaver said in a prepared statement. “UCH has fully cooperated with the investigation into the incident.”
In an arrest affidavit filed against Uhlenkott, University of Colorado police say he groped a patient in October while the patient was in a recovery unit following eye surgery and unable to see.
Uhlenkott, who pleaded not guilty March 7, told investigators that his contact with the man wasn’t sexual, but typical medical contact between a patient and a doctor or nurse. He told police the man had an erection and he only moved it so he could better examine him.
Investigators spoke with several doctors at the Anschutz Medical Campus about whether it is common for medical staff to move a patient’s penis, and the doctors all said it was not.
Police said the patient was not one of Uhlenkott’s, but the doctor struck up a conversation with the man about the man’s tattoos. The man, whose name was not released because he is an alleged victim of a sexual crime, told investigators he couldn’t see the man because he is blind in his right eye and his left eye was covered by a patch following surgery.
The patient said he didn’t know who the man was, but while they were talking he felt the man’s hand reach inside his underwear and fondle his penis.
When the patient returned to the hospital’s eye clinic the following day for a follow-up appointment, he told a supervisor about what had happened. The patient later told police he wanted the person who groped him to be charged with a crime.
Hospital staff narrowed the potential suspects down to two people and investigators later ruled one out because he had an alibi at the time of the incident.
Police interviewed Uhlenkott two days after the incident and again a few days later.
Investigators said Uhlenkott initially said he only touched the patient’s hand, but later said he reached inside the patient’s underwear and moved the patient’s penis.
Uhlenkott did not return a call for comment Monday.
His lawyer, Craig Truman, declined to comment on the case.
“We never talk about our cases outside of court,” he said.
Uhlenkott is due in court for a motions hearing in June and is scheduled for trial in July.