BELFAST – A local surgeon accepted a warning from a state board in an agreement signed recently.

Dr. John G. Gregory, a urological surgeon, accepted a warning in a consent agreement with the Board of Licensure in Medicine.

The warning was based on inappropriate and offensive remarks made to a patient.

The board received a complaint in 2002 alleging that Gregory made the inappropriate remarks during a consultation.

During an informal conference with the board, Gregory admitted that he exercised “very poor judgment” in his conversation with the patient, according to Randall C. Manning, the board’s executive director. Gregory agreed to the terms of the agreement in lieu of proceeding to an adjudicatory hearing.

Manning declined to reveal what was said to the patient. He said that a formal warning was the “lowest” level of discipline the board hands down.

“It is a formal matter,” Manning said Wednesday of the complaint and subsequent warning. “It will be reported to the data banks and it will go with him for the rest of his practice.”

All board disciplines are reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, the Health Improvement and Protection Data Bank and the Federation of State Medical Boards Action Data Bank. The reports are regularly reviewed by every state licensing board in the country.

An attempt to reach Gregory’s attorney, Kenneth W. Lehman, at his Portland law office was unsuccessful.

The licensing board is made up of six physicians and three members of the public appointed by the governor. Disciplinary actions taken by the board are available to the public by calling 287-3601 or on the board’s Web site at www.docboard.org/me/mehome.htm.

The Board of Licensure in Medicine is the state agency charged with protecting the health and welfare of the public by verifying the qualifications of physicians to practice and by disciplining physicians for their conduct. Any person can request an investigation of a physician or physician assistant by contacting the board office at 137 State House Station, Augusta 04333, or by phone at 287-3608 or by visiting the board’s Web site.