Abuse suit against doctor grows
206 allege assault by rheumatologist
A total of 206 plaintiffs have joined the class action suit against Dr. Derrick Todd, the former Brigham and Women’s Hospital rheumatologist accused of performing unnecessary pelvic and breast exams over a 14-year period, according to the lead counsel in the expanding case.
On Wednesday, Bill Thompson of Lubin & Meyer and nine other lawyers filed a “master complaint” uniting the various lawsuits that have been filed against Todd in Suffolk Superior Court since last fall.
The plaintiffs include three men and one person who identifies as nonbinary, Thompson said.
The suit alleges that Todd performed inappropriate pelvic examinations, pelvic floor therapy, breast examinations, testicular examinations, and rectal examinations on patients who had no medical need for such exams. Instead, according to the suit, “These examinations were performed for his own personal and sexual gratification.”
Todd’s lawyer, Anthony Abeln, said: “Dr. Todd will not litigate this matter in the media, but he will defend his care as the case progresses through the Superior Court.”
In addition to Todd, the suit names some three dozen defendants: Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital and Charles River Medical Associates, the places where Todd worked, as well as related organizations and numerous physicians and other employees connected with those practices.
Todd resigned from the Brigham on July 31 after the hospital launched an investigation and threatened to fire him. He also promised in September not to practice medicine in Massachusetts or any other state, in an agreement that specifies it does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing.
The complaint alleges that the Brigham and the other defendants “had actual and/or constructive knowledge, and therefore knew, or should have known” about Todd’s alleged behavior and yet failed to act to protect patients. Reports of his activities had surfaced as far back as 2010, according to the suit.
The hospital denies having any
knowledge of Todd’s alleged behavior before mid-April of last year, when two anonymous physicians called the hospital administration.
“The first reports of any possible misconduct by Dr. Todd were received last spring, at which time we immediately began an investigation into the allegations. We had no reports of these troubling allegations prior to this time,” a spokesperson for Mass General Brigham, the hospital’s parent company, said in a statement.
In July, when the hospital moved to fire Todd, it also notified the Department of Public Health, the Board of Registration in Medicine, and law enforcement.
“We have, and always will, act decisively on any allegations of misconduct, as we did in this case,” the spokesperson said.
The hospital also contacted Todd’s former patients and set up a call center staffed by social workers. (Although the call center is no longer operating, patients who call 617-732-7081 can get connected to the appropriate support.)
Charles River Medical Associates, located in Framingham, denied knowing anything about the allegations before last July.
“At no time, up until and including his last day at our Framingham office, did we receive, nor were we made aware of, any complaints about inappropriate conduct by Dr. Todd,” a spokesperson said in an email. “It has always been our practice to immediately investigate any claims of impropriety and take necessary action to ensure the safety, wellbeing, and trust of our patients and caregivers.”
The litigation had previously been consolidated and assigned to Judge Anthony M. Campo, so Wednesday’s filing is the next step in the legal process. Separately, criminal investigations are reportedly underway in Middlesex and Suffolk counties.
The 113-page complaint lays out in appalling detail the numerous allegations against Todd.
The unnecessary intimate exams were often performed without a chaperone and without gloves or lubricant, according to the suit. Inappropriate breast exams were performed on both adult women and teenage girls, the suit alleges.
Todd “routinely saw patients outside of regularly scheduled hours,” and also often texted with patients, “providing information that was not relevant to medical care, and … asking personal and invasive questions relating to sex designed to intimidate his patients,” the complaint states.
He “persuaded patients to terminate existing doctor-patient relationships with other treating physicians in order to gain additional access to patients for his own personal pleasure and gratification,” the suit states.
Several patients told the Globe that Todd at first seemed kind and empathetic, listened to their descriptions of difficult medical problems that other doctors had dismissed, and in some cases successfully treated their symptoms. They also trusted him because he was highly credentialed and worked at a Harvard-affiliated hospital, leading them to initially believe his assertions that his pelvic exam would help them.