Dr. Abaz Sosic’s medical license has been suspended by the Pennsylvania Department of State.
There was no word late Tuesday as to why the department made it’s decision, or whether it was in fact related to recent criminal charges made against Sosic. A request for further information, made at the end of the business day, was not immediately returned.
Sosic, 50, of 10 Van Tassel Way, an obstetrician/gynecologist, was charged last week in two cases with indecent assault and harassment.
His privileges at Bradford Regional Medical Center were suspended Feb. 6.
On Tuesday, when the Department of State indicated his license had been suspended, officials with BRMC said arrangements are in place to ensure Sosic’s patients who seek treatment from BRMC will get it.
“The hospital has coverage arrangements to handle deliveries and gynecological issues,” said hospital spokesman Dennis McCarthy. “These coverage arrangements would be similar to any situation where a particular physician is not available for a short or extended period of time. As the current situation becomes clearer, we will enhance that coverage if needed to ensure complete and ongoing coverage for any patient presenting at BRMC with obstetric or gynecological needs.”
Meanwhile, the allegations against Sosic have polarized local residents. Facebook pages both in support of Sosic and in support of any woman victimized by sexual abuse have cropped up. Some of those backing Sosic have launched vehement online attacks on the women making the allegations, while others have offered quiet support, saying only that he is a favorite doctor and they hope he is exonerated.
Many others have voiced support for the victims, speaking of the strength and courage it takes to come forward when victimized, and asking others not to “bully” the victims. The matters will play out in court, some commenters have said, and no one should judge the accused or the victims, as the cases are pending in a court of law.
In the first case filed against the doctor, according to police, Sosic had inappropriate contact with a woman working in his office. On Jan. 27, Sosic went up behind the woman “and pressed the front of his body against her back and her buttocks. Sosic then began to rub her right buttock with his bare hand,” reads an affidavit of probable cause for a search warrant filed in the case. The woman told him to stop touching her, but he did not.
Sosic sat down at a table and told the woman to sit as well. She said she felt threatened, so she complied. He began telling her “that he wanted her” and that he wanted to perform a sexual act on her. He said “I want to do an examination on you,” and then followed her out of the room and continued to try touching her, the court records read.
The woman left. Sosic called her personal cell phone apologizing, but she didn’t answer, the records read.
The second case filed by police was in regards to an alleged assault on a patient at Sosic’s Boylston Street office in June 2012. The woman was pregnant and went to his office for an ultrasound. She told police Sosic hugged her for “an uncomfortable long time” and attempted to kiss her. He placed his hand on her buttocks, “grabbed her breast and attempted to put his hand down the front of her pants,” the records read. He asked her to keep the incident between them.
Sosic is scheduled to be arraigned on those charges at Magisterial District Judge Dom Cercone’s office on Tuesday.
The search warrant application also detailed a third incident, from which charges were not filed.
A co-worker of Sosic’s at Bradford Regional Medical Center filed a complaint in 2008 alleging Sosic had grabbed and rubbed her buttocks, reached inside her shirt and rubbed against the top of her breast and made inappropriate comments to her, according to court records.
