by Neil W. McCabe

Answering the cell phone number provided by his accuser, the Somerville doctor accused of sexually assaulting a patient, told The Somerville News he knew nothing about attack.

“I am sitting here and I am dumbfounded. Is this a joke? It is so bizarre and strange,” he said. “Can people just do this?”

The doctor confirmed that he works at Cambridge Hospital, which he said was a matter of public record, but he does not practice as a patient physician, so could not have attended to the woman when she was admitted to the hospital for treatment.

“I don’t give my cell phone number to patients,” he said.

The doctor said he was not sure what he should and should not say, since he had just now heard about the charges.

When the woman’s story was recounted to him, the doctor said he knew nothing about it and that none of the events or persons were remotely familiar to him. He then said he was confident that he would be cleared of any wrongdoing.