From staff reports:

The Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission suspended the license of registered nurse Konstantin V. Kurkov, a former St. Francis Hospital employee charged with second-degree rape.

Kurkov cannot practice in Washington until the charges are resolved, according to an April 25 news release on the state Department of Health website.

Kurkov allegedly assaulted a 20-year-old woman on March 16 while she was at St. Francis in Federal Way for treatment of back pain. St. Francis officials confirmed that Kurkov had been accused twice prior to this incident of inappropriate contact with patients. In addition to firing Kurkov, St. Francis made a complaint against his nursing license.

The commission alleges that Kurkov examined a patient for a back pain complaint without orders from a health care provider, inappropriately touched the patient and did not follow standard medical procedures, according to the news release.

According to charging documents, Kurkov allegedly assaulted the patient after she came to the emergency room complaining of back pain.

The assault allegedly took place while the patient and Kurkov were alone in an examination room. Kurkov reported to the woman that blood and urine samples had found nothing irregular, and recommended the woman see a chiropractor. The patient told Kurkov that she could not afford to, and he allegedly offered to take a look at her back.

“He asked her to stand next to the bed and bend over and touch her toes. She bent over and felt ‘weird’ because the entire back of her gown was open to his view,” reads the probable cause affidavit.

The document goes on to explain that after inspecting the patient’s back, Kurkov allegedly asked to check her stomach. Kurkov allegedly then inserted his fingers into the patient’s vagina — wearing no gloves. The document says that Kurkov did this “for some time,” stopping at one point to get the patient’s discharge paperwork. When Kurkov returned, he allegedly told the patient that he needed to continue to check her vagina, at which point she told him, “No, I will go see my regular doctor.”

The patient complained to the hospital, including to Kurkov’s bosses, who identified Kurkov as the nurse by sending the patient his photo.