Physician accused of groping his patient

Fox Lake physician and former political leader William Dam has been hit with a civil lawsuit accusing him of improperly touching a female patient in his office last year.

Tamara Propst of Des Plaines filed the lawsuit against Dam last week in Lake County circuit court. The suit, which seeks more than $50,000 in damages, accuses Dam of battery.

Dam, 64, denied Propst's accusations Tuesday.

"If her attorney's ploy is to make accusations and settle out of court, I'm surely not going to settle. I didn't do anything wrong," said Dam, who recently announced he wants to make a political comeback and run for mayor in Fox Lake in 2009.

The incidents detailed in the lawsuit were reported to Fox Lake police, and the case also was investigated by the Lake County state's attorney's office. No charges have been filed.

The lawsuit filed by Chicago lawyer Shawn A. Warner alleges the first incident between Dam and Propst occurred when she was in the doctor's Fox Lake office Nov. 8, 2006. On that day, Propst went to get a flu shot from Dam and in the course of the visit, he hugged her, according to the suit.

Eight days later, the complaint says, Propst accompanied her 20-year-old son to Dam's office so he could receive pain medication. Propst says Dam placed his hands on her hips and later touched her breast.

Propst and her son filed the report with Fox Lake police after the Nov. 16 visit. Police Chief Mike Behan confirmed the investigation was forwarded to county prosecutors.

Dam says it would be impossible for him to touch Propst in his busy office without someone else seeing.

Dam was Fox Lake's mayor from 1985 to 1989. His other elected posts included a stint as a Fox Waterway Agency director and 8th Congressional District state central committeeman for the Republicans.