Malloy “Thought Leader” Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Sexual Assaults of Patients.

A “thought leader” of Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s transition team was sentenced Friday to 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting patients. Dr. Tory Westbrook served as the co-chair of Healthcare Working Group with Hartford Democrat and former state Representative Juan Figueroa.

Assistant State’s Attorney Peter McShane told Judge David P. Gold that more than 50 women had been victimized by Westbrook, The Courant reported of the sentencing a Middletown courtroom.

When Malloy appointed Westbrook and other “thought leaders” to his transition team on December 6, 2010, the Stamford Democrat declared,

“I have been gratified by the number and caliber of people who have agreed to join my Transition Team’s efforts to plan for an administration which is forward-thinking and represents the direction in which I believe this state should go,” said Governor-Elect Malloy.  “The members of these working groups are thought leaders in their specific area of expertise and I know the suggestions and proposals they come up with will help us attract new jobs, keep the ones we have, while getting our fiscal house in order.”

The transition team presented its ideas to Malloy shortly after he became governor in January 2011. A CTMirror.org report of the meeting included this summary of Westbrook’s presentation:

The health care recommendations, presented by Dr. Tory Westbrook, focused on federal and state-level reform efforts, redesigning the health care system to pay more for primary care and less for specialty care, emphasizing prevention and wellness, and creating health care jobs.

Numerous proposals were tied to the state’s $4 billion Medicaid program.

One recommendation involved moving HUSKY, the state’s main health insurance program for poor families, out of a managed-care system. One option would be to expand the state’s primary care case management pilot. This program is attractive to health care advocates because doctors, not insurance companies, are paid to coordinate patients’ care.

No word on how Westbrook, who was a doctor at a Community Health Center in Clinton and was also associated with a laser hair removal business in Manchester, became a leader of Malloy’s transition team. Westbrook was arrested in 2012 while serving as director of Hartford’s Charter Oak Health Center.