BOSTON (AP) The head of a family planning clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital was in court Tuesday after allegedly telling five nurses at a staff meeting: ''I'm going to execute people. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to execute you, Texas-style.''

Dr. Rapin Osathanondth was not immediately charged. However, he appeared at a closed-door, probable-cause hearing Tuesday in Roxbury District Court before a clerk magistrate, who will decide if there is probable cause to pursue the case. A decision was not immediately issued.

The five nurses told police that Osathanondth made the threats at a staff meeting, claiming ''I'm going to execute people. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to execute you, Texas-style.''

The nurses said the incident happened on Dec. 27, the day after software engineer Michael McDermott allegedly gunned down seven workers at Edgewater Technology Inc. in Wakefield.

The nurses were identified in a police report as Kathie McCarthy, Martha Hester, Silleta Davis, Lenor Rodriguez and Samantha Legara.

Hospital spokeswoman Christine Baratta said that Osathanondth is on voluntary leave from his clinical duties at the family planning clinic while the matter is pending, but that he was still a member of the hospital staff.

''He's kind of doing administrative duties at this point,'' Baratta said. ''But 99 percent of his duties were in a clinical area.''

According to the state board of medicine, Osathanondth attended medical school in Thailand, and did a one-year surgery residency at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton. He then did a three-year obstetrics/gynecology residency and a two-year fellowship in maternal/fetal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Osathanondth has made no payments on a malpractice claim in the last 10 years. He has no record of hospital discipline or discipline by the state medical board in the last 10 years.

The doctor's lawyer, James Dilday, didn't immediately return a call for comment.

After the nurses issued their complaint, Dilday said in a written statement that the case is the result of a labor dispute between the nurses and the hospital.

''Workplace violence is one of our top issues,'' said Barbara Norton, head of the nurses' bargaining unit at the hospital, told the Boston Herald. ''We are really standing behind the nurses in this matter.''

Osathanondth is well-regarded in the pro-abortion rights community, said Melissa Kogut, the executive director for the Massachusetts chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League. She said that she had met him a few times and that ''he clearly cares about the right to choose.''

''I was sorry to read that he's not going to be practicing, because we do have a provider shortage in Massachusetts,'' Kogut said.

The number of doctors in the state who perform abortions fell from 64 to 51 between 1992 and 1996, the most recent years surveyed.