Douglas Robinson

KING5
State-paid doctor under review by licensing agency following KING 5 investigation
By Susannah Frame
November 3, 2022

— Excerpt

SEATTLE — The Washington Medical Commission has four open investigations into a Seattle psychiatrist who worked for the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) for four decades.

On Nov. 1, the KING 5 Investigators reported Dr. Douglas Robinson was never held accountable by L&I, or any other agency that received complaints about the doctor’s behavior, despite a pattern of complaints alleging “inappropriate,” “unprofessional,” and “sexually intrusive” lines of questioning during state-paid exams.

The following day, Nov. 2, three people featured in the news report received letters from the Medical Commission, alerting them that their complaints were being investigated. All three had previously received letters from the Commission saying that their complaints did not rise to the level of scrutiny by their agency…

“I was really happy to hear that they changed course and reversed their decision and were now going to investigate that man,” Riley said. “I feel like I’m finally being taken seriously. They’re treating me like I’m a person again, and that helps.”…

“He asked me ‘When was the last time you had sexual relations?” Riley said. “I said ‘Well, it’s been a long time. I’ve been divorced for a lot of years.’ And then he got angry. He looked at me really hard and said: ‘When was the last time you had sexual relations with someone?’ And I got scared. I got really scared of him.”…

“What he did to me still lingers today. I have to mentally work to not think about him and his eyes and what he said. Depression will just wash over me. I think in some part because I felt so helpless and vulnerable just from my head injury and he took advantage of my pain and incapacity,” Riley said…