"Port Angeles doctor fails to get medical license restored"
by Jack Broom Seattle Times staff reporter. January 29, 1999.
A Port Angeles doctor who bludgeoned his wife to death has lost a bid to keep his medical license from being revoked.
Bruce Rowan, 34, acquitted last year in the murder by reason of insanity, had appealed a judge's decision to revoke Rowan's medical license on procedural grounds.
Rowan, who has been committed for psychiatric treatment, had asked instead that the license be indefinitely suspended, which would make it easier for him to eventually reapply to practice medicine.
But Health Law Judge Arthur DeBusschere this week upheld his ruling that Rowan had failed to respond in time when the Medical Quality Assurance Commission charged Rowan with unprofessional conduct in connection with his wife's death.
His order bars Rowan from seeking reinstatement for at least 10 years. Rowan's attorney, Kathryn Barron, said today she'll confer with Rowan about a possible legal challenge to the order. Barron said Rowan was not properly notified of the action revoking his license, and that could be the basis of an appeal.
A former emergency-room physician, Rowan was charged with first-degree murder in the March 1998 slaying of his wife, Deborah, who was beaten with an ax and bat.
Prosecutors contended he planned the slaying and then staged a car crash to make it look as if she died in a traffic accident so he could collect on her new $500,000 life-insurance policy.
But Rowan's defense lawyer said the doctor had suffered a major psychotic episode the night his wife was killed.
The most recent update to this story is that the psychiatrists at the state hospital where he is residing believe he is no longer insane and recommend he be released. He has been transferred to a step down facility to facilitate this goal.
We all have bitter experiences in life but I cannot imagine how the family of this poor woman feel. I try to imagine what I would do in their position. I think I would try to find a real life Soprano character to visit this guy once he is released. I personally liked this guy before this happened. It is like the old cliche' about the culprit being the last person you would suspect.
As for your not disliking the guy before the event, don't be surprised - these kinds of people are generally very good at putting up a sociable and amicable exterior.