Former Jefferson County doctor, Norton Health facing medical negligence suit

An Indianapolis law firm has filed a civil lawsuit against Louisville-based Norton Healthcare and one of its former physicians, the latest in an investigation into the recently suspended doctor’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Wagner Reese LLP filed the lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court last week on behalf of several former male patients who accuse their Norton-hired primary care physician, Dr. Abdelmessiah Guirguis, of medical malpractice after he allegedly performed inappropriate acts during routine exams.

Indianapolis attorney Laura Iosue, who is representing Guirguis in his efforts to keep his state license, told The Indiana Lawyer on Monday that Guirguis “adamantly denies all allegations against him.”

According to the lawsuit, during his examinations and treatment of the plaintiffs at Norton-King’s Daughters’ Health and Community Medical Associates — a hospital in Madison, Indiana — Guirguis performed prolonged and clinically unnecessary exams, including prostate and genital exams, under the guise of medically necessary treatment. He also allegedly conducted exams without gloves and in a “lingering and sensual” manner, rather than in a clinical, professional manner.

Guirguis “concealed his deviation from the applicable standards of medical care under the guise of rendering medically necessary treatment and hid behind the protected position of authority and trust inherently given by patients to their treating physicians,” the complaint stated. “In doing so, [Guirguis] created enough doubt and uncertainty in the minds of Plaintiffs to prevent them from recognizing, realizing or reasonably discovering his deviations from the applicable standards of medical care.”

In other words, the complaint continued, the patients never knew that Guirguis’s conduct crossed the line into medical malpractice.

The lawsuit also accuses Norton Health of unlawful behavior, specifically with negligently hiring and credentialing Guirguis and failing to supervise his conduct.

Renee Murphy, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer for Norton Health, did not directly respond to the lawsuit’s allegations against the organization. But she did emphasize that Guirguis is no longer employed with the organization and that “our team has worked closely with patients to continue their care.”

Jason Reese, a partner and personal injury attorney at Wagner Reese, said in a written statement on Friday that the plaintiffs’ attorneys “intend to leave no stone unturned.”

“When a hospital hires, retains and supervises an employed physician for years and then fires him for unprofessional behaviors, you have to question what they knew, when they knew it, and what they did about it,” Reese said. “This civil side allows these patients to not only go after the doctor but also the employer, and the latter will likely have far more resources.”

The lawsuit comes about a month after the Indiana Medical Licensing Board suspended Guirguis’s medical license for 90 days at the behest of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, which petitioned the board for the doctor’s suspension in February.

According to the Attorney General’s Office’s petition, Guirguis worked at the Madison hospital from about late 2008 to December 2025.

At the end of last year, the hospital terminated the physician for “grossly unprofessional conduct,” according to the petition.

Included in the Attorney General’s Office’s petition was a copy of an April 22, 2025, abuse and neglect online complaint form, in which an unidentified Norton-King’s Daughters’ Health patient detailed an Oct. 17, 2024, general check-up with Guirguis.

The patient said in the complaint that he saw Guirguis for psoriasis on his ear and knee. According to the online complaint, Guirguis asked the patient if he had psoriasis anywhere else, and the patient said he did on his penis and above his anus. The patient then consented to Guirguis checking the areas, which he did, ungloved.

The complaint said Guirguis then had the patient get on the examination table, where he again touched and “began to rub” the patient’s penis with an ungloved hand.

A spokesperson with the Attorney General’s Office said the agency cannot provide any updates on the investigation because it is confidential.

Jefferson County Prosecutor David Sutter told The Lawyer on Monday that he is aware of a criminal investigation by the Indiana State Police, and his office is reviewing information provided by law enforcement.

The Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office has not filed criminal charges against Guirguis.

The plaintiffs in the civil case request a jury trial and damages under the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act.

The case is John Doe #1 through #4 v. Anonymous M.D., Anonymous Health, and Anonymous Medical d/b/a Anonymous Medical Associates (39D01-2603-CT-000330).