CHULA VISTA, Calif. — The California Medical Board has revoked the medical license of a doctor who faces criminal charges for setting up cameras inside of two bathrooms at a Veterans Affairs Clinic in Chula Vista.
The medical board ordered Dr. Vincent Tran from practicing medicine until after his criminal case is over and a board hearing is held.
According to the medical board's ruling, "as a condition of bail, Vincent Tran is restricted effective June 30th, 2022."
CBS 8 first reported the criminal charges against Tran on June 2. Those charges include 14 misdemeanor counts of secretly filming a person and invading their privacy with a concealed camera.
Shortly after the District Attorney filed the criminal charges, two nurses who worked at the Veterans Affairs Clinic where Tran practiced filed civil lawsuits against the federal government for failing to ensure their right to privacy.
The nurses say that the V.A. informed them that they were filmed inside the unisex bathrooms in May 2021, nearly seven months after Tran allegedly placed the cameras inside the restrooms at the Chula Vista clinic.
“The V.A. knew or should have known that they needed to protect their female employees. And by having a unisex restroom, at a minimum, they should have swept that restroom to make sure there were no recording devices in the restroom,” attorney for the two nurses, Paul Starita, told CBS 8 in June 2022.
U.S. attorneys, however, disagree that the federal government is responsible.
In recent court filings, federal attorneys argue that unisex bathrooms are a policy aimed at protecting people's rights, not infringing on them
Reads a court filing, "The VA is not alone in working through these sensitive issues. For instance, the State of California recently passed legislation requiring “all single-user toilet facilities in any business establishment, place of public accommodation, or state or local government agency” to be “identified as all-gender toilet facilities” through certain signage. These are quintessential policy questions; “judicial second-guessing,” as the Plaintiffs' attempt, is prohibited..."
Meanwhile, Tran is scheduled to appear at a misdemeanor readiness hearing on August 30.
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