A disgraced New York City urologist accused of sexually assaulting male patients, including boys, under the guise of medical treatment was hit with a lawsuit Thursday that identified more than 50 new victims who say they were raped, forced to undergo surgery without anesthesia, and deliberately fed addictive opioids.
Dr. Darius Paduch, who worked at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and Northwell Health, was indicted in April on federal charges after allegedly abusing patients during urology examinations between 2015 and 2019. Since his arrest, dozens of victims have come forward to accuse the male fertility specialist of harrowing abuse and accuse the medical institutions that once employed him of turning a blind eye.
The latest lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court under the Adult Survivors Act alleges that at least 58 victims were “sexually assaulted, sexually exploited, and sexually abused” by Paduch for nearly two decades. In addition to Paduch, the lawsuit names several medical institutions, including New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, Northwell Health, and Long Island Jewish Medical Center.
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“Paduch acted as a disgusting, sadistic, and perverted sexual predator who used his esteemed and trusted position…to sexually groom, exploit, abuse, rape, molest, fondle, sodomize, and commit various acts of physical, verbal, and sexual assault and battery on thousands of patients, including the plaintiffs herein, all under the pretense of providing legitimate, medically necessary, medical care,” the lawsuit states.
In addition to the abuse, the lawsuit alleges, Paduch allegedly performed “unnecessary surgical procedures on patients, often without any anesthesia, in an effort to inflict pain.” Afterward, he allegedly “dispensed copious opioid medication in an effort to get his patients addicted so that he could better manipulate, control, exploit, and abuse them—all without any basis in actual medical standards of care.”
The suit details several heinous examples, stating that Paduch often directed men with erectile dysfunction to masturbate in front of him, forced patients to watch pornography, told patients to get on “all fours” on the example table, and used sex toys to induce an erection.
One patient, identified as John Doe 7, alleges that when he saw Paduch around 2007, the doctor forced him to undergo several procedures, including a cystoscopy without anesthesia, excessive gentical exams, and digital sodomy. Another patient, identified as John Doe 29, said that when he saw Paduch between 2012 and 2013, Paduch performed a bogus and unnecessary “varicocele” surgery that Paduch claimed would cure erectile dysfunction. Others allege Paduch took photos and videos of them for “medical purposes.”
The lawsuit argues Paduch’s employers knew what he was doing and, instead of reporting it to the State Office of Professional Medical Conduct or local law enforcement, conspired “to conceal his crimes from the authorities, gas-light their patients, while enabling and aiding Darius A. Paduch in becoming the second-most prolific serial sexual predator in New York State History.”
When his employers learned of his criminal behavior in 2017, he was allegedly still allowed to continue to practice medicine for six more years, the lawsuit alleges. (In May, a month after his arrest, the Office of Professional Medical Conduct directed that Paduch stop practicing medicine in New York.)
“My clients and I have had enough of the cover-ups that are happening at hospitals and medical clinics across the country—and we’re doing everything possible to help change this culture by holding institutions and their enablers accountable,” Anthony T. DiPietro, the lawyer who filed Thursday’s lawsuit, told The Daily Beast. “We look forward exposing the administrators who failed protect patients from this known predator. I believe the work we’re doing will help make this world a better place for our kids, grandkids, and generations to come.”
Paduch was first accused of misconduct in December 2022, when a New York-Presbyterian high school intern sued the doctor for sexually abusing him for two years “under the guidance of tutelage.” The lawsuit alleges that when the assault began in September 2015, the victim was just 16 years old.
Since then, several other lawsuits have been filed. In one case filed in August, 28 victims allege that Paduch’s employers knew of his conduct and failed to protect patients.
Paduch has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and is no longer affiliated with any hospitals. A Northwell Health spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the organization was cooperating with authorities and taking the allegations seriously. A Weill Cornell Medicine spokesperson told The Daily Beast that “the conduct described in these suits is extremely disturbing” and that the organization is continuing to cooperate with authorities.
Michael Baldassare, an attorney representing Paduch in the criminal case, denied the allegations and noted his client’s decades of experience in the male reproductive field.
“Not only has Dr. Paduch been a well-respected physician for 20 years, he has authored or co-authored over 80 scholarly publications in his field and served our country honorably as a Captain in the Army Reserve Medical Corps,” Baldassare told NBC New York, adding that his team “will defend this case to [the] greatest extent of the law."
