A former New York City urologist is facing life behind bars after a federal jury found him guilty on Wednesday of sexually abusing eight patients, including six who were minors at the time.
“Darius A. Paduch leveraged his position of trust as a medical doctor for his own perverse gratification,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement issued after the unanimous verdict. “For years, patients seeking needed medical care, many of them children, left his office as victims.”
A lawyer for Paduch told Newsday that they “definitely” planned to appeal, and declined to comment further.
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Paduch was indicted last April by a federal grand jury, which charged him with four felony counts related to inducing a victim to engage in unlawful sexual activity. The Department of Justice said at the time that investigators had found Paduch had disguised his abuse as “medically necessary and appropriate” treatment.
The number of known victims quickly expanded after his arrest, with more than 130 former patients coming forward to file civil claims against the disgraced doctor under New York’s Adult Survivors Act. The civil cases remain ongoing.
Mallory Allen, a partner at Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC, a law firm representing the survivors, told The Daily Beast in a statement that justice had been served on Wednesday.
“For nearly twenty years, patients who trusted him for their medical care and treatment were instead brutalized by his degrading, sexually violating, and medically unfounded acts while the hospitals where he worked looked the other way,” Allen said.
“The jury verdict in the criminal case affirms that these heinous acts will not be overlooked, and the pending civil cases will ensure that the institutions who repeatedly prioritized profits over their patients will face consequences for their indifference in ignoring years of complaints.”
Under the guise of performing urology examinations between 2015 and 2019, Paduch raped and molested his patients, sodomized them with ungloved fingers and “other devices,” masturbated them, and showed them pornography, according to Justice Department prosecutors.
In one civil lawsuit, which listed at least 58 victims when it was filed last September, but claimed there were “thousands” more stemming from Paduch’s 19-year career in New York hospitals, the doctor was also accused of forcing patients to undergo surgery without anesthesia and attempting to get them hooked on opioids.
“Paduch acted as a disgusting, sadistic, and perverted sexual predator,” the complaint said.
The bulk of the allegations stem from Paduch’s time at two hospitals: NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and Northwell Health. Both have been accused by plaintiffs of looking the other way as Paduch’s abuse was allowed to continue unabated. After Paduch’s arrest, both facilities cut ties with him and said they would cooperate with any investigation.
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Northwell said in a statement to The Daily Beast that they were “deeply disturbed by the information that has been revealed throughout the course of the criminal proceedings against Dr. Paduch,” noting that he had not been affiliated with the hospital “for some time.”
“Northwell cooperated fully with authorities in connection with the prosecution of Dr. Paduch,” she continued, declining to comment further given the continuing criminal proceedings and pending civil litigation.
When approached for comment, a spokeswoman for Weill Cornell gave The Daily Beast a statement attributed to Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack and Dr. Robert A. Harrington, Cornell’s medical affairs provost and dean of its medical school.
“The acts described during this trial are deeply disturbing and we remain heartbroken for these survivors,” they said. “Patient safety has always been our highest priority, and it is our obligation to foster and maintain an environment that promotes dignity and respect for everyone who entrusts us with their care.”
Pollack and Harrington said that university leadership had “implemented enhancements to our policies and training requirements” and begun new patient safety programs “to prevent such abhorrent conduct occurring in the future.”
