Boston Doctor’s Medical License Suspended for Alleged 'Inappropriate and Substandard Examinations' of Harvard Students

The medical license of a longtime Boston-area doctor and Harvard alumnus was suspended Friday for “inappropriate and substandard examinations” conducted on student members of the Harvard Glee Club.

Bernard E. Kreger ’59 — an internal medicine practitioner at Boston Medical Center — was a member of the Harvard Glee Club during his undergraduate years.

In a Friday press release, the Massachusetts Board of Medicine announced the disciplinary action taken against Kreger’s license after “finding he poses a serious threat to the public health, safety and welfare.”

“The Board alleges that over the course of many years, Dr. Kreger conducted inappropriate and substandard examinations of student members of the Harvard Glee Club,” the press release read.

Evidence of misconduct that formed the basis of the board’s decision to suspend Kreger’s license stemmed from allegations concerning Kreger’s conduct in the 1980s and 1990s, when he served as a volunteer physician with the Harvard Glee Club. In 2018, former students came forward with complaints, leading to the board’s investigation.

The Harvard Glee Club — a choral society comprised of approximately 60 undergraduate and graduate men — declined to provide any official comment on the suspension of Kreger’s license. Glee Club manager Rowen S. Vonplagenhoef ’21 said current members of the Glee Club are surprised to hear of this development.

“This happened before our time, so we have no first-hand knowledge on the situation before the release of the article today,” Vonplagenhoef said. “This wasn’t on our radar since he belongs to the alumni.”

Kreger — who until Friday afternoon was listed on the Harvard Glee Club Alumni Foundation’s website as a member of the board of directors — has been removed from the Foundation’s website. The Harvard Glee Club Alumni Foundation did not respond to a request for comment.

In a blog post attributed to the Harvard Glee Club from the summer of 2008, Kreger was described as having ended his role as the group’s “tour physician,” although the reason for which was not made clear.

“Until a few short years ago, Bernie would personally conduct a physical on each member of the Glee Club to assess the status of any existing health conditions prior to the group’s departure,” the blog post reads. “That practice no longer exists.”

Kreger first received his medical license in the state of Massachusetts in 1967. Until his license suspension, Kreger practiced medicine at Boston Medical Center. By Friday evening, Kreger was no longer listed as a practitioner on Boston Medical Center’s website.

“At Boston Medical Center, we take any allegation of inappropriate conduct very seriously,” a BMC spokesperson wrote in an emailed press release. “Based on the decision of the Board of Registration in Medicine, Kreger is no longer seeing patients at Boston Medical Center.”

The Board’s press release noted Kreger can seek a hearing at the Division of Administrative Law Appeals within the next seven days. Kreger did not respond to a request for comment.

—Staff writer Meera S. Nair can be reached at meera.nair@thecrimson.com.