Sexual abuse by doctors and medical staff

Legal accuracy check

Chris Schroeder, Esq.

Florida Bar #520381 · D.C. Bar

First published October 5, 2026 · Last checked October 5, 2026

How pages are checked

How claims against doctors and hospitals work

This page covers physicians, other clinicians, and the hospitals, medical schools and practice groups they work for. In the cases on this page, the abuse was presented to patients as care: federal prosecutors describe Paduch’s abuse as committed “under the guise of medical treatment,” and the pending charges against Derrick Todd, who is presumed innocent, allege procedures he falsely claimed were necessary. A patient often cannot tell in the room. That is why so many of these claims turn on what the institution had already been told. The institutions hub lists the other kinds of institution we cover.

Battery or malpractice: why the label matters

A sexual touching that was not medically justified, or that the patient did not agree to, can be pleaded as battery or sexual assault. It can also be pleaded as medical malpractice, on the theory that the doctor departed from the standard of care. The label is not a formality. It decides which deadline applies, whether pre-suit notice is required, and in some states which damages rules apply.

California shows the difference. A claim for “professional negligence” against a health care provider must be brought “three years after the date of injury or one year after the plaintiff discovers” it, “whichever occurs first” (Code Civ. Proc. 340.5), and the provider must first be given “at least 90 days’ prior notice of the intention to commence the action” (Code Civ. Proc. 364). A civil claim for sexual assault of an adult, by contrast, can be brought within 10 years of the last act or three years from discovery, whichever is later, and no criminal prosecution is needed (Code Civ. Proc. 340.16). Which statute governs a given claim is for the court. A defendant may argue that a claim is really malpractice so that the shorter clock applies, which is one reason to have a lawyer look at the dates early.

Negligent hiring, supervision and credentialing

Claims against the institution are mostly state common law. Negligent hiring, supervision and retention ask whether an employer knew or should have known a doctor was a danger to patients and failed to act. Negligent credentialing asks the same of a hospital that granted a doctor privileges without employing him. Federal rules set some of the baseline. A hospital must check the National Practitioner Data Bank when a practitioner applies for privileges and every two years after that (45 CFR 60.17), and a hospital in Medicare must honor the patient’s “right to be free from all forms of abuse or harassment” (42 CFR 482.13(c)(3)).

What happens when a doctor moves on matters too. In its July 2026 agreement with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Weill Cornell Medicine’s recitals state that its former urology chair, asked by another institution that later hired Paduch, completed a reference form giving him a recommendation with “some reservation” and did not disclose the reason his appointment had not been renewed or any patient complaints.

Who can be held responsible

The doctor. The clinician who committed the abuse can be sued directly. A criminal case is separate and can run at the same time; see civil and criminal cases.

The employer. A hospital, university, medical school or practice group that employed the doctor can be named for its own negligence and, depending on the state, for the employee’s acts.

The hospital that granted privileges. Many doctors are not hospital employees. A hospital that credentialed one, and that received complaints about him, can face a negligent credentialing claim.

Parent systems and affiliates. Large health systems are often several legal entities. Which one employed the doctor, ran the clinic and received the complaints is a factual question the records answer.

Abuse of a child patient follows the childhood rules described on our guides to child sexual abuse and grooming; abuse of an adult is covered on our guide to adult sexual assault. Survivors can often sue under initials; see filing anonymously.

Deadline issues for medical claims

Revival windows. California has opened time-limited windows for older claims several times. One revived claims over sexual misconduct by physicians at student health centers from 1988 to 2017 and closed at the end of 2020; another revived claims involving UCLA physicians for 1983 to 2019 and closed at the end of 2021 (Code Civ. Proc. 340.16(c) and (d)). The window now open, under AB 250 (Stats. 2025, ch. 682), runs from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027. It revives adult sexual assault claims that were time-barred, where the plaintiff alleges that an entity “engaged in a cover up or attempted a cover up of a previous instance or allegations of sexual assault.” It does not apply to public entities.

Public hospitals. A claim against a county or university hospital that is a public body usually requires a written claim first. In California the deadline is six months after the claim accrues (Gov. Code 911.2), unless the claim is for childhood sexual abuse, which is exempt.

Charitable immunity. Some states still limit what a nonprofit can be made to pay. In Massachusetts, a charity’s liability for a tort committed in carrying out its charitable purposes “shall not exceed the sum of twenty thousand dollars,” and for “medical malpractice claims against a nonprofit organization providing health care,” $100,000, with no cap for activities “primarily commercial in character” (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 231, sec. 85K). These are statutory limits, not a measure of any claim, and how they apply to a given case is for the court.

Deadlines in other states are in our statute of limitations reference.

Active litigation involving doctors and hospitals

Each matter below is an allegation unless it says a court or jury has ruled. Status is as of the date given.

Weill Cornell Medicine

Darius Paduch, a urologist, was convicted in 2024 after a criminal trial of six counts of inducement to travel to engage in unlawful sexual activity and five counts of inducement of a minor to do so, and was sentenced to life in prison, according to the voluntary compliance agreement signed on July 25 and 26, 2026. In that agreement Weill Cornell “acknowledges that the policies and programs that WCM had in place at the time of Paduch’s offenses to detect, prevent, and respond to sexual abuse of patients were not adequate.” It recites that WCM “has paid or agreed to pay over $1 billion to settle claims from victims to date,” and the U.S. Attorney declined criminal charges against the institution. Cornell called the resolution “a significant step forward” in a July 27, 2026 statement. We have not confirmed the status of claims against the other hospitals where Paduch later worked.

Brigham and Women’s and Charles River Medical Associates

More than 200 former patients of Derrick Todd, a rheumatologist, have sued him, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital and Charles River Medical Associates, according to WBUR (April 23, 2026). Todd has been charged in Middlesex County with 22 counts of rape and indecent assault and battery, and on April 23, 2026 he pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County to 81 further felony counts involving 22 former patients, WBUR reported. The charges are pending and he is presumed innocent. Through counsel, Todd has said he “believes that he has done nothing wrong and will defend against such claims vigorously.” Brigham has said it “deeply regret[s] the harm this has caused to our patients and their families.”

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Since October 1, 2024, former patients of an obstetrician-gynecologist who practiced at Cedars-Sinai have filed suits in Los Angeles alleging that he abused them and that the hospital failed to act. The first filing involved 35 women, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, and a further 112 joined in October 2025, bringing the total to 330, according to Beverly Press (October 22, 2025). The same report says he surrendered his California medical license in May 2025 after a Medical Board accusation of negligent care, that he has denied the allegations, and that he is under criminal investigation. We found no criminal charge, so we do not name him. Cedars-Sinai said the alleged behavior “is counter to Cedars-Sinai’s core values” and that he “no longer has privileges to practice medicine at Cedars-Sinai.” For adult patients of a private California hospital, the governing deadline rules are those in Code Civ. Proc. 340.16, including the 2026 to 2027 window described above.

Among closed matters, Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian reached a $750 million settlement with 576 survivors of Robert Hadden, a gynecologist convicted federally in January 2023, according to Insurance Journal (May 7, 2025). The case tracker lists every matter we follow.

Where to go next

Abuse in a psychiatric hospital or treatment program is covered on our page about residential treatment and psychiatric care, abuse in elder care on our nursing homes page, and abuse by team doctors on our page about youth and college sports. Reporting abuse explains how to report to police and to a state medical board, and how to file a claim walks through what a lawsuit involves. If you want a lawyer to look at your own dates, a free, confidential case review costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Questions we are asked most