State board suspends license of Oxford doctor who had relationships with patients

An Oxford doctor, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to a misdemeanor charge, has had his license suspended for consensual sex with patients, according to state medical board records.

Dr. Rick James Bucher M.D., who has an office on Morning Sun Road, was suspended effective Oct. 13 from practicing medical for two years, State Medical Board of Ohio documents say. He was also given a a $20,000 fine.

Bucher was found by the board to have committed misconduct with a patient when he admitted to having sex with three different patients while still remaining their physician.

“Dr. Bucher admits that he had consensual sexual relationships with three patients despite an ongoing concurrent physician-patient relationship,” according to the consent decree documents from the board.

The first sexual relationship occurred in 2002, and it resulted in a long-term personal relationship. A second began in 2014-15 that lasted until 2018 and a third sexual relationship happened from March 2020 to June 2020, according to the medical board documents.

Both Oxford Police and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office say they have no criminal investigations regarding Bucher.

In March 2017, Bucher pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of official business in Butler County Common Pleas Court for being less than truthful with state board agents during a drug investigation.

Bucher was originally charged in 2017 with seven counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs and two courts of trafficking in drugs for allegedly selling more than 700 Oxycodone pills and other drugs to a person who worked at his office.

In the middle of trial the drug trafficking charges were dismissed when he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor.

Judge Greg Stephens gave Bucher a suspended 30-day jail sentence and placed him on one year probation.

Bucher has owned and operated Oxford Family Practice since 1985, according to the board.

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