Dr. Thomas Tyma to Stand Trial on New Charges

Additional charges filed against Dr. Thomas Tyma were held for court Friday following a preliminary hearing in Hampton.

Tyma of Sewickley appeared before Magisterial District Judge Regis Welsh Jr. to answer new charges of indecent assault and harassment that were filed late last month with Northern Regional Police Department.

The 54-year-old rheumatologist, who formerly practiced at Allegheny North Arthritis Center in Wexford, has been accused of touching female patients inappropriately during examinations, according to police reports.

Altogether, the Sewickley resident is facing 21 charges of indecent assault and 20 charges of harassment in several cases in Allegheny and Lawrence counties.

In previous preliminary hearings, Tyma pleaded not guilty, and his attorney, Stanton D. Levenson, argued that the doctor was doing routine rheumatological examinations.

The women are not identified because they are the alleged victims of sexual assault.

The cases are at various stages in the court system. In the meantime, the State Board of Medicine has suspended Tyma's license.

A trial date of Sept. 12 is set for many, but not all, of the cases in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, where Judge Donna Jo McDaniel will preside. Tyma has pleaded not guilty.