My late wife was the victim of sexual abuse (by her paternal grandfather) from the age of about 10 until about 14. Her father caught his father in the act, not once but several times. His way of dealing with his father was to threaten to kill his daughter if she ever told anyone. I knew nothing about this until 10 years after we got married, and she was 37. For all those years, I couldn't figure out my wife's problem with sex. She started going to a psychologist after realizing that she had a problem. About a year after starting treatment, she asked me to come with her to her next session. It was only with the support of her psychologist she was finally able to tell me what had happened to her at the hands of her grandfather so many year earlier. It was then that I realized how long-lasting the scars of the trauma of childhood sexual assault can linger. My wife then told me that her grandfather was well known for his systematic sexual abuse of his 5 daughters and many female granddaughters over many years. One of the granddaughters (my wife's cousin) committed suicide after going public about her abuse.
46
Doctors seeing patients in the basements of their personal home is not okay.
25
This is horrible. Patients shouldn't be in the room alone with the doctor without a nurse or assistant by his side.
If the doctor is alone, the patient should ask for another person to be in the room with them.
27
Several commenters have highlighted the importance of sex education as a preventative measure. The issue with that child molestation is not sex, it is an abuse of power. That is what children should be taught to recognize.
26
When I was 15 my mom scheduled me to see a dermatologist for mild eczema on my hands. She wasn't at the appointment, and he had me put on a coverup and then told me I needed a breast exam. I was 15, naive, and felt uncomfortable when he did it, but a few years later, realized there was absolutely no reason a 15 year old with a mild topical eczema on her hands needed a breast exam. The creep was also the father of one of my classmates, and did it with the photo of his daughter on the desk, right behind him. I wish I had reported him (he is dead now). I often wonder how many other women he took advantage of.
33
I still remember my pediatrician, without warning, sticking his hand into my pants when I must have been about 11 or 12. I was shocked and embarrassed and didn't say anything to anyone, as far as I can remember. It only happened that one time, and I don't think it had a major effect on me, but it's obviously still very wrong and infuriating. I just googled him and he is still in practice (I'm 47 now) with a number of comments alluding to similar incidents and other complaints about him. It's so horrible and demoralizing to realize that so many doctors have abused patients in ways small and large, and have mostly gotten away with it.
31
The blind trust in authority figures such as doctors and priests enabled generations of these egregious abuses.
I would hope that with a myriad of examples of this behavior before us things would be better now, but I think that is overly optimistic.
17
Sometimes the only justice victims can get is the knowledge that their victimizers will live the rest of their lives and go to their graves knowing they have been branded for what they were.
15
There should be no statue of limitations for any form of assault. A assault, especially a sexual assault stays with the victim for their lifetime. Even if the perpetrator is living the last day of their life they should be prosecuted. Age is no excuse to not prosecute, they do not deserve a day of peace.
30
Starting at about 5, my new pediatrician started abusing me. I knew there was something wrong with it. He stood so my mom in the room could not see what he was doing, and I was afraid I talk.
At to, I told my mom. She said was just mistaking his cold hands for something else. My older sister supported what I said. Mom said to mot say anything unless som someone else say says says something. She was embarrassed.
At 29, the law was changed so I could still report him.
25
I was sexually assaulted by my medical director in an elevator when I was 6 months pregnant. Well if I count all the times I was attacked by MDs during my career as a RN ,20 possibly more , honestly I really have tried to shut it all out.My well documented complaints never went anywhere. That said so many dedicated MDs rallied around me, they got no where either, but I was so grateful for their support.I was in a leadership position at a major hospital, can only imagine what the rank and file went through, and the patients!
25
How does the medical education system attempt to filter out the perverts and the sadists? As far as I can tell, the system doesn't even try.
Anesthesiologist Dr. Frederick Field is one of the worst serial sex offenders in the history of the state of Oregon. Just an example, one of thousands.
17
I was sexually abused as a child by a trusted older relative. If I had a choice now would I sue? No. I don't see how it'd make my life better and at some point it's necessary to move beyond what happened to you as a child in order to move forward as an adult, a lawsuit seems like it'd accomplish the opposite of this. If this is what they feel is necessary to help them heal then more power to them, but it's sad they're at this stage of their lives and they're still looking for something outside themselves to help put this to rest. At some point every person who's been abused has to move beyond it in order to build a good life as a functional adult.
5
Sometimes it is difficult to heal when you have been told you were not injured. The doctor has never admitted his abuse of his patients. Many of their parents chose to believe the doctor over their children’s accusations and fear of being examined.
To publicly be vindicated as survivors of a sexual predator will be healing for these women. You may have moved on without having your abuser accept responsibility or having your parents believe your accusations but many abuse survivors need to feel society supports them and is prepared to punish their abuser.
30
So many people are guilty of negligence in these cases. Sue him for every penny he has and shame him in court.
15
I am sure that the women will find a law firm owned and operated by women that will sue the former doctor for no fee. Unfortunately he probably has already given away or spent most of his money so the award amounts may be small.
7
"The state Office of Professional Medical Conduct received a steady stream of sexual abuse complaints about Mr. Copperman for nearly two decades, but did not strip him of his medical license until December 2000."
Sounds like it's time to sue the Office of Professional Medical Conduct?
Parents: If you find it necessary to allow your doctor to see your adolescent child without you in the room, demand that a nurse will be present at all times.
34
My doctor was just like Dr. Copperman. A jovial, respected physician, that everyone loved, and president of the board of a major hospital. I was older though, mid-twenties, when he inserted an IUD in me incorrectly, on purpose, so he could watch me in excruciating pain. He stood in the corner of the room and smiled as I begged him to take it out. This went on for probably fifteen minutes, but to me it seemed like an eternity. Turns out, a few years later, he was caught. He is the Grandview Rapist from Columbus, Ohio and he will die in prison. So, at least, I can have some peace. I wish this for all of the girls assaulted by Stuart Copperman.
36
These parents let their children be alone with a doctor? Shame on them. As for Copperman, he should be arrested and imprisoned.
9
I don't have the heart to read this article. The memories from 60+ years ago are still too painful. Parents, please pay attention. If your child begs you not to make her/him go to a certain doctor, listen and find out why.
50
I would like to give a shout out to the nurses unions. nurses have protected me on more than one occasion from inappropriate behavior by doctors. if you are not aware that having a nurse present is your right, because they are your advocate, make sure to have one present. this is miles ahead of the way it used to be, thankfully.
35
Fortunately, recent advances in telemedicine, connected medical devices and A.I. computer vision should greatly reduce this problem in the future.
And the overwhelming quantity of online training data should greatly improve diagnostic accuracy of gynecological examination.
3
First of all, thank you to these women. Your strength & your conviction is inspiring. The old adage about sunlight being the best disinfectant is so true.
Every time someone comes forward & unmasks one of these criminals it it sparks long buried anger & shame in me. But, then, knowing that women are speaking up, joining together, not taking it any longer, spreads a sense of healing through me.
Back in 1968, 19, white, middle class, a college dropout & pregnant, I was living in Cambridge MA. I scraped up enough money to pay for pre-natal care & delivery through Mass General's clinic services.
The doctor I was assigned to, a male in his 30s I'd guess, seemed polite & pleasant enough. My first couple of visits were uneventful. No female nurse was present during the exams, which is now required, but not then.
His subsequent sexual assaults were done with the explicit quid pro quo that I would do nothing about it, and he, in turn, wouldn't recommend that my baby be taken from me at birth & put up for adoption. I was terrified & told no one.
When my daughter was born he actually came into my cubicle in the ward section late at night with a social worker. They had flashlights & tried to have me sign my parental rights over to them. I screamed & they fled. I never saw either of them after that but the fear that someone could take my child from me kept me from ever speaking up about it. I doubt, from all these womens' experiences that anyone would have believed me anyway.
60
Women, and men, who were truly abused by their physicians are entitled to justice. But, in practice, this law is going to be very difficult to implement, and justice may be hard to find.
Most physicians are not abusive, but there are a very small minority who are. The standards for a proper and appropriate medical exam vary. Standards are changing over time, and practices vary substantially among physicians all practicing good medicine. Patients differ in how they react to examinations.
Examinations are becoming less intrusive, and we rely more on imaging (scans and x-rays) and laboratory tests to make diagnoses. But it's often true that less intrusive examinations are less thorough, and more likely to miss important abnormalities. There often really is a trade off.
Good, professional, bed side manners are important, and patients should consent to all parts of an exam. But, as in this case, this is hard for children, and even adults may have trouble discerning what's appropriate and what isn't. Gender-appropriate chaperones are usually a very good idea, but even this is not always straightforward, given what we know about gender identity.
Importantly, though guilt may be obvious in the case described here, it's generally very difficult to establish what happened 20+ years ago.
Justice is important, but in many of these cases it may prove elusive and difficult to achieve.
2
@Alex
Your response sounds rational, but it is quite offensive to me and I believe, it is only a highly intellectualized rationalization of atrocious medical etiquette. You have no data at all to back up your assertion that it is only "a small minority" of physicians who are abusive, and even if it were statistically correct, it is to the victims personally insensitive and clinically meaningless. Surely, you know the difference between statistical significance and clinical significance! Clearly the damage done to these women, is beyond numerical measure, but your comment implicitly minimizes the fact that the actual number of victims is far greater - not lesser - than anyone in the medical establishment was previously willing to admit. What gives you the right and authority to say all "patients should consent to all parts of an exam"? Would you consider that you are either in deep denial of the extent and seriousness of this problem, and that the very attitudes toward authority that your response endorses have been and continue to be a big part of the problem? You say justice will be hard to achieve. Well you may be right - I hope not - but your response, with all its implicit endorsement of the doctor's rights to continue to dictate what is correct patient behavior and furthermore what is true, demonstrates the very attitudes that will make justice so elusive.
36
@Alex "...in practice, this law is going to be very difficult to implement, and justice may be hard to find.
...it's generally very difficult to establish what happened 20+ years ago."
This is the argument that has been used forever to prevent us from successfully prosecuting predators. It is time to rethink the framework of how we apply justice today. For example, in many cases people knew at the time, adults knew, or they were at least told even if they didn't believe what they were told. That should be, and has recently been, submittable evidence to support a case. There are other things we can do. For example, end the process of sealing records in abuse cases so that we can look at reports from concerned citizens made to family services or the police from decades ago. It's time to stop making excuses. It's time to dig in and change the system.
23
How strange that it is now no longer possible to for the police to pursue criminal charges against Dr Copperman. That wouldn't happen in many other parts of the world. A crime remains a crime, regardless.
In the absence of criminal proceedings - and whatever the actual facts of the cases - the matter is being reduced to legally untested accusations in the columns of a national newspaper? With the 'possibility' of civil suits for damages? Hmmm...
10
Thank you to the women that came forward. Took both my baby girls to Dr Cooperman based on good reviews of neighbors. They were both under 4 years old when the first allegations were made public and needless to say we switched pediatricians. Thank you for the courage to come forward. Thanks to you the next generation of young women were spared abuse from this monster. Unfortunately there are still monsters out there and hopefully we as parents have learned to be more vigilant and watchful of even those in trusted positions
49
As a parent of young toddlers I'm like a hawk in all scenarios. From age 1.5 I started having my kids practice saying "don't touch me" and "stop that", and to tell me if anyone touches them or makes them not happy. I think many parents are like this now. It's not a sad sign of the times, but rather a sign that many people have woken up to what has gone on for eons.
As far as doctors go, most medical practices, at least those connected to large health systems, now have processes in place to help prevent this, not only with kids, but with adults, too. Whenever I've had procedures or anything sensitive done at my health system there's always a nurse in the room. I've had doctors refuse to start until the third party arrives, in fact. It's a good step.
26
Doctors used to possess more charisma and power than they do now, and it's more standard practice to have another staff person in the room. And parents used to disbelieve their children more often "in the old days" than now. But it behooves parents to believe a child who says a medical person -- or any adult! -- who says that person treats them in a creepy, inappropriate way. It's not often the child is making something up.
22
At 17 and newly diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, foggy vision, extreme weakness, terrified and so sick, a revered doctor at a famous clinic attempted to molest me. He took me alone into a room and told me to "slowly drop my top and bra". When I questioned, "Why do I need to do this slowly and what does this have to do with my blood sugar?", I heard the door slam and I was alone. He never touched me. When I reported it to the staff, I was told my eyes were still recovering from extremely high blood sugars and that I must have mistaken the doctor for someone else. When I pressed the issue, I was suddenly treated very differently for the remainder of my two week stay. I didn't tell my mother because I was 17 and angry at everything.
33 years later, I won't even go to a male dentist. Looking back, I think that 1 minute experience made me a person who fiercely fights for the vulnerable. Working with disabled adults. Adopting a child from an orphanage. Rescuing animals. Standing up for people when I see injustice. I question everything. I'm on high alert.
84
30 years ago, My male ObGyn never performed an examination on me without a person from his practice present. That was to protect him. It was the right thing to do.
Good luck at temple today Mr Copperman.
50
@Deirdre Too bad he won"t speak out loud to all his transgressions.
2
Whether they get money or not is not the biggest reward. The goal is to get it on the record, be believed, know you were part of making it clear to all that this person did wrong. And feeling a part of cleaning up the dark corners of society.
35
Just amazing how corrupt the system is. So a large number of patients are sexually abused and there are no strict laws to punish the doctors that do this.
14
@Ralph Petrillo
That's absurd. The article says nothing of the sort.
1
@nolongeradoc
If convicted he should face death penalty,
2
@nolongeradoc The article says exactly that.
The county’s “special victims bureau wanted to pursue this investigation and bring criminal charges,” she said. “But they needed to find viable charges that were not outside the statute of limitations.”
A spokesman for the district attorney’s office said the investigative file on the case could not be found, and may have been destroyed when a storage facility was flooded. He said the office was not digitized then.
After Mr. Copperman lost his license, 19 women came forward to file formal complaints of sexual abuse with the state. Ms. Finkelstein said all the cases were already past the statute of limitations
10
If pursuing charges against an adult abusing children is not a high priority, what does that say about the Nassau County Prosecutor's Office? Who do they prioritize?
29
As a recently retired gay male pediatrician, I offer several observations:
1) The “presumption of universal heterosexuality” always tends to rear its head. If we are being honest, no adolescent of either gender should be left alone in an examination room with a physician of either gender, when the visit might involve intimate examination. It’s naïve to think that this problem only involves female patients with male physicians.
2) My medical organization offered chaperones with ALL adolescent visits. The presence of chaperones protects the physician as much as the patient.
3) In my pediatric practice, girls tended to “fire” me and go to one of my female colleagues when they reached about 12 years of age. Teen boys often abandoned my female colleagues and came into my practice at about that age. I felt more comfortable having chaperones with my teenage boy patients, due to my situation of being an “out” gay physician.
4) Still, it’s not an easy solution. It’s very difficult to balance the frequent need for teen privacy with the absolute need for safety.
88
@Douglas as a pediatrician , I agree completely.
12
@Douglas, thank you for your comment. I agree with you about not leaving teens alone with a physician of either gender.
13
The family doctor who abused me is dead. But he knew he could get away with it after he watched the interactions between me and my parents. He knew I wouldn't tell. And he knew that I craved some sort of positive attention from another adult. There were several things this doctor could have done that would not have involved abusing me. He chose not to do them. He took advantage of his position as a doctor and an adult to abuse a needy young teenage girl.
Sadly for all children and parents, it's hard not to regard any professional who wants to meet with a child alone without suspicion. There have been too many cases of abuse and too many victims. The price victims pay for this abuse is far higher than the price the adults pay. I know. What I don't know and what others don't know, is how to help children grow up, learn to be adults and learn to trust without having to deal with an adult who has it in his/her mind to sexually or physically abuse them. There are no visible signs and that makes it that much worse for the victims and their families.
37
When I was a teenager I endured
endometriosis. My doctor told me
not to worry, my periods would get
better. Almost 20 years later I had
surgery to remove scar tissue and
endometrial tissue, but I remained
infertile. The family dentist petformed horrors on my teeth and
I complained again and again to
my parents about the pain he caused.
I’m 68 now and have had close to
$100,000 of work done to preserve my teeth.
Parents please be open to what your children tell you about their
health care providers. You can prevent a lifetime of suffering.
42
The cases underscore how difficult it can be for patients, and especially children, to identify sexual abuse in a medical setting, where patients are expected to disrobe and anticipate that doctors will touch them, occasionally in ways that feel uncomfortable or invasive.
Some girls did identify it. They did tell their parents. Adult women made complaints. No one listened. No one listened. And other girls (most?) suspected something was wrong but they didn't feel safe telling an adult because they suspected - they knew intuitively - that their male doctor would be believed before they would be believed.
And that breaks my heart and makes me so angry. Girls and women were and still are not believed.
99
@Kelly I know! if a child cannot trust her/his parents to protect him/her then who? I felt so sad/angry to hear their own parents didn't believe them! This is why sex education is so important for both parents and child.
31
A girl who experiences this is ashamed, just wants to forget about it and is not going to push this information on an adult that does not take it seriously. I never spoke a word till I was an adult.
I was mortified. I felt bad, like I had been bad.
15
From reports such as this, the double tragedy is that mothers were so well groomed by doctors and others that they did not seem to know what to do when their daughters reported abuse and blamed the victim. Being discounted and shamed by the parent no doubt compounded the psychological damage inflicted on these poor young women.
55
Sadly, this story reflects some rather uncommon wisdom.
If predators had red eyes, green teeth, warts, and swore and belched all the time, people would stay far, far away from them.
The reality is they are often charming, attractive, well educated, respected, and well liked. How else could we let them get so close to us, and trust them so quickly and easily?
My heart aches for these women and their lost childhood. And I'm particularly sorry that the adults they chose to confide in did nothing. Abhorrent and shameful.
65
I am fortunate to have not been molested by a doctor and Cooperman was particularly revolting. But when I was 13 my parents enticed my doctor - with whom I believed I had confidentiality - to query me on my thoughts about inter-racial marriage which was a great fear of many white southern parents. I was gulled into believing an adult was actually interested in my opinion on an adult topic. He informed my parents that I was a "dangerous liberal" who needed strict supervision and I was seriously punished. Doctors betray trust in many ways, although sexual abuse is the most egregious.
103
How is it that nobody believes these girls when they do summon the courage to speak up? What is wrong with the parents that at a minimum don't insist being in the exam room after their daughters tell them of abuse?
Why do we, as a culture, disbelieve girls and women?
110
@Amy R It's not just girls and women. The victims of priests were often boys. What about the Jerry Sandusky case? Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Talking to Strangers, discusses at length why we have difficulty believing these cases. Perhaps there is some sexism involved, but I don't think this is the primary issue because, if there were, we wouldn't have so many male child victims of sexual abuse.
9
@Amy R Men, and the women who want to keep them in power, subjugate women and girls all over the world. They subjugate us with religious and cultural beliefs perpetuated over millennia because they cannot compete with us on a level playing field.
It's been a great success.
5
@Amy R
While I agree totally with you, it isn't just girls, take a look at what happened to young men who were molested by priests, their parents wouldn't believe them and would tell them they were evil for saying anything like that about the good father, the church hierarchy covered for the priests and when the adult victims came forward, denounced them as agitators trying to ruin the church or get rich off the church.....and law enforcement, many of them Catholic themselves, saw it as their duty to protect the church rather than the victims, when people did file complaints law enforcement often dismissed it as 'not believable' and the like.
It all comes from a common root, for all the talk about children being our more precious resource, our most valuable things, in the face of authority, people have been brainwashed culturally and otherwise for many centuries that authority must be right, whether it is a doctor or a priest or whatnot.
7
This is undoubtedly more common than anyone can imagine. The doctor who provided sports physicals at my high school in the 1980’s molested us. We were young teenagers and couldn’t put words to it except to talk to each other about how “creepy” he was and how we all dreaded it as we waited on line. I felt sick when I realized this during Larry Nasser’s trial, after having buried it all those years. Did anyone tell their parents, I wonder? And for how many years did this go on?
Parents: Have conversations with your children early and often. Listen. Believe.
67
“.... a solo practitioner who ran his practice out of his basement.” That’s clear evidence of a creepy boundary debate right there. I know some medical professionals, especially in the north, have their offices connected to their homes...but a pediatrician alone in the basement!? Those poor little innocent beings. I wish them strength and courage going forward on all fronts. As for the perpetrator, he should be tried and prosecuted.
35
You would have us suspect Dr Welby simply because he had a practice in his home also.
This was not so unusual at one time.
1
This is so tragic! The laws really need to be changed. These women experienced double betrayal as their mothers did not believe them or protect them from abuse.Parents need to be educated about how to protect their children from predators.
In order to survive, the brain often compartmentalizes sexual abuse...until later in life. The law should be taking this truth into account.
It takes enormous courage for these women to come forward.
And he has a happy retirement paid for by these abused and betrayed women's parents. That is criminal.
33
There are hundreds of millions of people on this planet who were sexually abused, told someone they trusted, and were disbelieved, ridiculed, told they were crazy, or simply ignored. It is sickening and it is an epidemic.
43
He should be stripped of every penny he has left.
41
His money should be used to fund the rehabilitation of girls rescued from the sex slave industry.
It’s a huge multi million dollar industry world wide.
We need to talk about this attraction to girls and boys. It’s sick.
16
One of many morals of this horrifying story: Choose a female physician for your child. (Certainly, females can still sexually abuse others, but it’s much, much rarer. )
57
@GBR
I've raised my two boys (in their 20's now) like a lioness. Touch them...face the consequences of your actions.Both had a female pediatrician up to their late teens. Then I switched them to their fathers' primary care doctor. I also believe that women are less likely to abuse children.
6
No, the moral of the story should be to believe children when they try to tell you they are being sexually abused. Anyone can be a perpetrator just as anyone can be a victim.
8
There's a common theme here: their parents didn't believe them. I've heard the same complaint in a variety of situations not having to do with child abuse. Mom and Dad, are your kids so dishonest, so immoral... do they come from a home that is so debased that you can't trust what they say, even about this? Explain, please....
56
@Paul Kolodner I think it also had to do with the times, although I suspect this still happens a lot. This is one of the reasons why comprehensive sex education is so important for both parents and children.
19
@Paul Kolodner Children often don't have the words, or the confidence to use them, especially to describe something that is at first so unusual and confusing. I tried to tell my mother what happened when my male pediatrician abused me in the style of Larry Nassar - with her right there in the room. I was 8 or younger, and I don't remember how I described what had happened but she just said, "he has to do that". Even today, some 45 years later, with all of the information available to us she cannot consider that she missed something; it offends her sense of superiority. She congratulated herself for listening to me 5 years later, when I was finally strong enough to refuse to see him, but then she understood wanting a female pediatrician. She still doesn't not accept that I was escaping a molester.
23
@Bruixa I don't think it was the times. And I resist this idea of sex education. Child molestation is not sex, it is an abuse of power. Children should be taught that if an adult is doing anything that makes them uncomfortable, whether it is touching their genitals, blocking their path to leave, hitting them, saying hurtful things to them, etc. they have a right to do whatever is necessary to protect themselves and they should tell as many people as possible until someone believes them.
4
There’s an interesting common trend among men who “abuse”, use, disrespect and consider women, girls inferior, namely the new “meritocrats” who shamelessly cry “survivor” status to get away with murder. Alan Dershowitz for one. Other forms of abuse permeate many areas of our society as well
15
“I have always tried to live my life in such a way that if someone said something bad about me, no one would believe it,” Mr. Copperman said.
Copperman is a sociopath and domestic male terrorist.
Thank goodness he has been publicly exposed as the public evil he is.
Court and prison should be the next step for unindicted terrorists like Copperman.
98
From birth, my 3 daughters went to an all female pediatrician practice. They never knew the shame and confusion that come with a male doctor's fondling. Now we all go to female GYNs.
36
@Chris Kott
There are many outstanding male OB-GYNS out there as well. I am glad you all feel positive about your experiences and hope it does not color your opinion of all male healthcare providers. That would be a real shame.
5
The laws need to change. My life was almost ruined by my first visit to a gynecologist alone? I am sure plenty of others had the same treatment for the rural town’s citizen of the year.
24
Thank you to these courageous women for speaking up and being a part of changing the laws.
41
Doctors, priests, teachers. We are finally coming to accept the truth that "responsible adults" have frequently committed horrific acts of sexual abuse against innocent children.
New York's new look back law is helping to expose the pervasiveness of these crimes as well as the systemic instutitional and societal complicity that has enabled their long term cover up. But New York is just one state out of fifty.
Thousands and thousands of victims, empowered by the courageous women who have made the #MeToo movement possible (and by the intrepid and indefatigable reporters who are telling their story), now for the first time are finding the courage to speak about that which had always been, quite literally, unspeakable.
This process of discovery and disclosure must continue. The ultimate goal must be an open and honest reckoning with the legacy of destruction that so many men (and a few women) have wreaked upon huge numbers of people, a very great many of them children.
Let's start by pushing for every state to adopt a look back law to allow the victims of childhood sexual abuse to have a chance to have their voices heard. The time is way past due.
71
The statute of limitations needs to be eliminated for sex crimes. It took me 30 years to realize my father had sexually abused me. The law couldn't do a thing.
These men get away with it and do horrendous damage to young people's psyche.
121
Every story that comes out about sexual abuse by doctors dredges up memories of my own past. I am now 74. What do I do about it? How do I begin to trust doctors who police themselves all across the country, and like Catholic priests, do nothing about it. I was abused as a child and again as an adult with no consequences to anyone but me.
105
Yes, so much damage. You don’t even realize until later just how extensive this is. One wonders why they can’t sustain relationships- and all the rest of the self worth issues that come up from the enormous amount of shame the actions of these men place on us the rest of our lives. It happens so much, and who believed us or cared?
19
@Patricia Brenner
Ohio is a one-party consent state, meaning you can secretly record conversations of which you are a party. Get a recording pen (Amazon) or use your cell phone. Do not warn the doctor that you are recording. There is no reason for you to trust a doctor any more than a car mechanic. Hope for the best and if the worst occurs, produce your proof after the doctor has already dug a hole and accused you of lying. Never confide anything to a medical professional and expect it to remain confidential. Recording also helps when a doctor denies treating you rudely and/or with verbal abuse. Start out the appointment with documentation in mind: "Good Morning Dr Jones; I almost forgot it was time for my Aug 15th appointment. 2019 has just flown by." Yes, I see the medical establishment as an adversarial system so I assume there is the possibility of litigation in the worst case scenario.
2
The state Office of Professional Medical Conduct let these victims down and ought to compensate them now! Twenty years of complaints before his license was revoked? Then 19 victims who came forward after the board FINALLY believed the "good doctor" was an abuser, were told it was too late.
Shame, shame, shame.
And let me guess... the two physicians and the pastor who constituted the review board... were they men?
154
He needs to be tried and convicted. As a physician I can tell you that what he did was absolutely wrong and criminal. I also agree that leaving young adolescents alone in the room with male physicians is wrong. I never allowed my daughter to be alone with a man in the exam room, a nurse had to be there. Parents need to be speak up and advocate for their children.
195
@Fato Excellent advice.
12
@Fato I saw my pediatrician alone as a child, but once I could drive at 16 and had an office visit alone (I saw him occasionally until I was maybe 18 or 19), he ALWAYS had a nurse in the room.
4
We seem to have a serious “male” problem worldwide. A lot of disordered and sick men (from all backgrounds, education and professions) out there who are sexual predators.
15
I was abused by my pediatrician in Bartlesville, Ok. He abused all 5 of my sibs, and many of his patients in town, while befriending parents on a deep level. The level of abuse of trust is astronomical. There is a film on Netflix " In A Town This Size" made by a survivor (Thank you Patrick!!). We finally ran him out of town Okie style. :) Then he died. No tears. This story has all the same elements.
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I can’t award all the money I’d like to these survivors – but I hope that we as medical customers will learn from their experience and so many others’ that doctors are fallible human beings who are capable of abusing our trust and making the wrong choices.
Doctors continue to hand out antibiotics like candy as resistance climbs putting us all at risk. They misdiagnose. They are led by racial bias to ignore the claims of certain patients.
I have friends who didn’t get the HPV vaccine because their doctors were listening to insurance companies rather than conducting sound medicine. The advice now: get the vaccine, no matter how old you are, how many partners you’ve had or if you’ve already had multiple strains of HPV.
I watch as friends blindly follow their doctors, seeking permission from a pediatrician to choose where their child sleeps. Or wondering why no one told them to take probiotics or to delay cord cutting. Sites like "Evidence Based Birth” contain all the peer reviewed studies but I've met few people who knew (and no one who was informed by their doctor!) about that body of work.
And, we know that on a regular basis, doctors unconsciously collude with their patients to deny that illness is terminal – because both patients and doctors find it so uncomfortable to talk about death.
Too many people have suffered because we as a culture made doctors into gods. They are not. They are heart-breakingly human.
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This is not about doctors or coaches, this is about men abusing every bit of power they ever get their hands on.
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@Natalia
You have to include women in your response. Many young children have been molested by women neighbors, teachers, coaches, scout leaders and nuns to name a few pedophiles.
10
I think in America we worship the wealthy, we think that wealth and success is the most important thing in life and look at these guys who did it! The doctors, the wealth it takes to even become a doctor. Already these guys had privilege and ego. They believe they are Gods.
9
At what age do the young ones fully supported, loved and cared for by their parents need full privacy from the very same parents? Also, is this need for privacy more of a particularly American phenomina?
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@DM You presume that all young ones are fully supported, loved, and cared for by their parents. My experience both personally and professionally is that that is sadly, not always the case. There may be times when a teenager may be doing things where they quite rightly, fear punishment from parents who are not supportive or loving, and may need to have privacy to discuss these concerns with a trusted adult who can care for them and give them appropriate advice. I see this frequently in my practice. However, to abuse this trust is beyond horrific, as has happened here. It's not unreasonable during sensitive portions of the exam to have another professional there, such as a nurse, to prevent crimes like this occurring. In my training, we even had nurses come in for same-gender female exams, seeing as not everyone identifies as strictly heterosexual.
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@Durham MD
With all due respect, the question is if your daughter or son had done or had something so bad they were scared of talking with you, went to another Doctor and opened their heart to them, will you be fine with that Doctor saying nothing at all to you directly or indirectly eliminating any chance of you playing your role in helping your child. Also, what if the issue involved was nothing medical at all?