Prosecutor drops rape charges against a prominent Philadelphia doctor
A female patient had accused John Smyth Michel, who ran Excel Medical Center, of raping her during a 2024 office visit. He said the sex was inappropriate but consensual. She was a no-show at trial.
A prosecutor dropped felony rape and sexual assault charges against Philadelphia-area doctor John Smyth Michel on Tuesday after his accuser failed to appear at his criminal trial.
The woman’s testimony against Michel, the former medical director of Excel Medical Center, was key because the case lacked physical evidence. The then-38-year-old patient from Northeast Philadelphia had claimed Michel raped her during a 2024 office visit.
Michel’s criminal defense lawyer, Andrew Gay Jr., told jurors the sex was a “terrible” mistake but consensual.
“As terrible of a decision as it could have been for a physician to make,” Gay said during his opening statement Monday on the trial’s first day, “it was an entirely consensual act between two adults.”
Gay declined to comment on Michel’s behalf after Common Pleas Court Judge Chesley Lightsey dismissed the case at the prosecutor’s request.
“This case is done,” Lightsey declared before excusing the jury empaneled at the city’s Criminal Justice Center.
The stakes were high for the 56-year-old doctor from Jenkintown on two fronts: He faced up to 20 years in prison on the rape charge alone and loss of his medical license, if convicted.
Under state law, doctors convicted of sexual offenses are prohibited from being licensed and practicing medicine.
The State Board of Osteopathic Medicine, which regulates and oversees licensure of osteopathic doctors like Michel, suspended his license last year after he apologized for having sex with a patient — a violation of state licensure laws. As of Tuesday, his license remained suspended, according to a state spokesperson.
Excel Medical Center, which Michel founded, is currently closed, Gay said. The center was comprised of 12 locations in the Philadelphia region, with more than 200 employees, and about 20,000 patients.
In a letter to the medical board last year, Michel described the October 2024 sex with the patient as a “lapse in judgment” for which he is “profoundly contrite.”
“I fully acknowledge that I crossed a professional boundary,” Michel wrote to board members last year. “I recognize that boundaries are not only a legal and ethical obligation but a critical element of safe, respectful, and therapeutic care. I make no excuses for my actions.”
Claims of rape
The patient, identified in police records by the initials “D.R.,” had accused Michel of kissing her during a May 2024 exam at his East Mount Airy office on Stenton Avenue. She told him “no,” left the office, and did not report the kissing incident.
About five months later, she went to an appointment at Michel’s North Philadelphia office on West Diamond Street. During the Oct. 14, 2024, visit, she said Michel raped her with such force that her head banged twice against the exam room wall. She pushed him off her and fell to the ground crying, according to criminal court records.
In early November 2024, she told her husband what had happened and subsequently filed a police report, records show.
Late last year, a second woman accused Michel of sexual abuse. The woman had worked for Michel as a medical assistant from 2015 to 2019 at his East Mount Airy office on Stenton Avenue and at another location in Germantown on Chelten Avenue.
The former employee claimed that beginning in 2018, Michel touched her breasts over her clothing on multiple occasions while she was working in the office. He additionally groped her vagina over her clothing before she quit in 2019, according to a document filed in court last year by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors never charged him in connection with those accusations, but argued the then-employee’s claims bolstered their patient rape case, given there were no witnesses. Gay, Michel’s lawyer, had declined to comment after the second women came forward.
A no-show witness
In the patient’s case, Philadelphia police arrested Michel in February 2025 after prosecutors charged him with three felonies — rape, sexual assault, and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse — and two misdemeanors — indecent exposure and assault. He was released on bail.
Assistant District Attorney Allison Christian dropped all but the rape and sexual assault charges prior to the trial. Michel pleaded not guilty.
The former patient was scheduled to testify on Tuesday morning. Christian told the judge that she had spoken with her the night before. She sounded “very emotional” and seemed to be having a “nervous breakdown,” but said she would testify, Christian said.
“I’ve been calling her since 8:15 a.m. this morning every 15 minutes,” Christian said. “I haven’t heard from her.
“I’m not going to issue a bench warrant for a rape victim,” she said before dropping the charges.
A path to practicing medicine
Prior to last year, Michel had no criminal complaints and no disciplinary history against his medical license, state records show.
Michel agreed to be disciplined by the Board of Osteopathic Medicine for violating a state law prohibiting sexual misconduct, according to a June 2025 agreement.
The discipline included a $4,000 civil penalty and an indefinite suspension of his medical license for a minimum of 24 months, followed by probation, according to a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees licensing boards.
While on probation, a chaperone must be physically present when Michel treats female patients and a separate monitor must oversee his practice. Michel also must complete in-person classes on physician-patient boundaries and 15 hours of continuing education on ethics, the disciplinary agreement says.
The state spokesperson on Tuesday said the board will reinstate Michel’s license to “non-suspended, probationary status” once he’s met the agreement’s reinstatement conditions.
