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Sex Abuse Scandals News Stories

Below are key excerpts of revealing news articles on sex abuse scandals from reliable news media sources. If any link fails to function, a paywall blocks full access, or the article is no longer available, try these digital tools.

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CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves Steps Down After Sexual Harassment Claims
2018-09-09, New York Times
Posted: 2018-09-17 04:03:56
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/business/les-moonves-longtime-cbs-chief-ma...

Leslie Moonves, the longtime chief executive of the CBS Corporation, stepped down on Sunday night from the company he led for 15 years. His fall from Hollywoods highest echelon was all but sealed after the publication earlier in the day of new sexual harassment allegations against him. Mr. Moonves ... could still walk away with more than $120 million. However, [he] will not receive any severance payment until the completion of an independent investigation into the allegations. He has been under intense pressure since July, when The New Yorker published an article by the investigative journalist Ronan Farrow in which six women accused Mr. Moonves of sexual harassment. On Sunday, the magazine published another article by Mr. Farrow in which six more women detailed claims against Mr. Moonves. Mr. Moonves is the latest high-powered entertainment figure to be ousted from his perch in the #MeToo era. The movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been accused by scores of women of sexual assault and now faces felony charges. Matt Lauer stepped down as the anchor of NBCs most valuable news program, Today, after several women alleged incidents of sexual harassment. Charlie Rose of CBS and PBS left the airwaves after he, too, was implicated by multiple women. And Fox News saw the departures of the founding executive Roger Ailes and its top-rated host, Bill OReilly. The allegations go back years in some cases even decades.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and media corruption.


Abusive media moguls harmed more than just individual women. They shaped a misogynistic culture.
2018-09-13, Washington Post
Posted: 2018-09-17 04:01:59
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/abusive-media-moguls-harmed-mo...

The powerful and now-departed men of CBS - [Les] Moonves, [Jeff] Fager and star interviewer Charlie Rose - helped shape how our society sees women. The network, after all, is the most-watched in the nation. 60 Minutes for 50 years has been the very definition of quality broadcast journalism: the gold standard. Its impossible to know how different America would be if power-happy and misogynistic men hadnt been running the show in so many influential media organizations - certainly not just CBS. What if Mark Halperin, for instance, had not been a network commentator during the 2016 presidential campaign? (James Wolcott of Vanity Fair aptly described him as ... the most influential of the men who were felled by sexual-misconduct allegations last year.) What if Bill OReilly of Fox News hadnt been the biggest cable TV star in the nation when a woman had a major-party presidential nomination for the first time? (OReilly was forced out after it emerged that he had made a $32 million settlement with an accuser.) What if Roger Ailes hadnt presided for decades over Fox News, where his own well-documented abuses bled freely into his networks commentary. A media figure doesnt have to show up for a business meeting in an open bathrobe to do harm. He can help frame the coverage of a candidates supposedly disqualifying flaws. He can squelch a writers promising work. He can threaten an underlings job if she doesnt stay in line. All these little moments add up.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and media corruption.


A big political cover-up of 1980s pedophile-ring in U.K. Parliament?
2014-07-07, Washington Post
Posted: 2018-09-17 03:54:25
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/07/a-big-political...

Most everyone remembers Cyril Smith. The member of Parliament had a personal touch. He sang. He went on pal Jimmy Saviles BBC show. He also, according to hundreds of allegations since his 2010 death, was a pedophile of historic proportions. That fact was one of many in a dossier prepared 30 years ago by a crusading member of Parliament who warned of a powerful pedophile ring of big, big names. The man told his family the allegations were explosive. It would, he told his son, blow the lid off of the pedophile ring and perhaps take down powerful, famous sex abusers who had infiltrated the highest reaches of British life. The allegations ... werent aggressively pursued and no arrests or prosecutions followed. My father [Geoffrey Dickens] thought that the dossier at the time was the most powerful thing that had ever been produced, son Barry told the BBC ... after it emerged that the document has since gone missing. As its disappearance ballooned into a national scandal, the Guardian reported [that] an additional 114 documents relevant to allegations involving the ring are also missing a revelation sparking suspicion that Margaret Thatchers government orchestrated a cover-up. Norman Tebbit, a former cabinet minister who served under Thatcher, [said] the inclination at the time may have been to protect the system rather than delving too far into the claims. Asked if there had been a big political cover-up, Tebbit conceded there may well have been.

Note: Why have we heard nothing further on this case? For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.


In a Catholic Church where even the pope covers for sexual abuse, everywhere is as bad as Boston
2018-08-28, USA Today
Posted: 2018-09-11 04:31:10
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/08/28/pope-francis-knew-cardinal-...

A report released this weekend by a former Vatican ambassador to the United States charges that Pope Francis knew about sexual abuse by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, removed a suspension placed on him by Pope Benedict, and proceeded to make the known abuser one of his most trusted advisors. Pope Francis knew from at least June 23, 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator, [but] he covered for him to the bitter end, wrote Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, nuncio to Washington from 2011-2016, before demanding the pontiff resign. That is a damning allegation coming from a very senior church leader. Even more profound is the charge by an Argentinian woman who says the sexual abuse of her son was covered up by this pope, who had her forcibly removed from his office when she tried to report the crime when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, and then known as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. The harsh reality that all Catholics need to realize is that ... there are few protections when the predators are the bishops who are empowered to police themselves and instead cover up for each other, from the pope on down. A trope of the last six papacies has been [known] to extol the advances of a supposed Springtime of Vatican II, the revolutionary church council from 1962-65 that was called to open the Church to the modern world. Far from a spring flowering, the festering sex-abuse scandal shows that the Church of Rome is actually going through a long, cold, very dark winter.

Note: For more, see this revealing BBC News article. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.


Larry Nassar, former USA Gymnastics doctor, sentenced to 40-175 years for sex crimes
2018-01-24, Washington Post
Posted: 2018-09-11 04:28:37
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/larry-nassar-former-usa-gymnas...

After seven days of listening to more than 160 girls, women and parents describe the impact of his sexual abuse, disgraced gymnastics physician Larry Nassar turned to the courtroom Wednesday and quietly attempted an apology, saying, "There are no words that can describe the depth and breadth for how sorry I am for what has occurred." Then Judge Rosemarie Aquilina read from a letter Nassar wrote last week in which he expressed very different sentiments. In the letter, Nassar complained about the length of his sentencing hearing, maintained that his touching of patients was legitimate medical therapy and termed some of the alleged victims' accounts "fabricated." As Aquilina read excerpts, some in the courtroom gasped. "My treatments worked, and those patients that are now speaking out were the same ones that praised me," Aquilina said as she read Nassar's words. "The media convinced them that everything I did was wrong and bad ... Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." The judge then addressed Nassar directly. "It was not treatment what you did; it was not medical," Aquilina replied. Finally, Aquilina delivered her sentence - a minimum of 40 years, a maximum of 175 years in Michigan state prison - effectively guaranteeing a life sentence for the 54-year-old former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics team physician, who also faces a 60-year sentence for federal child pornography crimes.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.


Ronan Farrows Ex-Producer Says NBC Impeded Weinstein Reporting
2018-08-30, New York Times
Posted: 2018-09-11 04:26:52
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/business/media/ronan-farrow-weinstein-prod...

In October, when Ronan Farrow published his first article in The New Yorker on the alleged transgressions of Harvey Weinstein, people in the media and entertainment industries wondered how NBC had missed the story. After all, Mr. Farrow had spent months gathering material on the mogul when he was with NBC News. Now a producer who worked closely with Mr. Farrow has accused the network of putting a stop to the reporting, saying the order came from the very highest levels of NBC. Rich McHugh, the producer, who recently left his job in the investigative unit of NBC News, is the first person affiliated with NBC to publicly charge that the network impeded his and Mr. Farrows efforts to nail down the story of Mr. Weinsteins alleged sexual misconduct. He called the networks handling of the matter a massive breach of journalistic integrity. Three days before Ronan and I were going to head to L.A. to interview a woman with a credible rape allegation against Harvey Weinstein, I was ordered to stop, not to interview this woman, Mr. McHugh said. And to stand down on the story altogether. There was a point in our reporting where I felt there were obstacles to us reporting this externally, and there were obstacles to us reporting this internally, the producer said. Externally, I had Weinstein associates calling me repeatedly. I knew that Weinstein was calling NBC executives directly. One time it even happened when we were in the room.

Note: NBC's chief executive stepped down amid sexual harassment claims 10 days after this article came out. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on media corruption and sexual abuse scandals.


Doctors and priests: patterns of sexual misconduct
2016-07-06, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2018-08-27 17:33:18
https://www.myajc.com/blog/investigations/doctors-and-priests-patterns-sexual...

Sexual abuse scandals at American institutions like the Boy Scouts and the military have made headlines, and forced reforms. Now, with the publication of a year-long investigation by reporters at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the medical community is facing similar scrutiny. But perhaps no such scandal has drawn as much attention as the one that rocked the Catholic Church, after the Boston Globe uncovered the true extent of the Church leadership's long cover-up of its problem. As AJC reporters looked into sexual abuse within the medical community, they saw parallels with the church scandal. More significantly, the two cultures have one chief issue in common: secrecy. Secrecy underlies almost all of the proceedings surrounding complaints of sexual misconduct by physicians. The justice system is geared to let the public know when a potentially dangerous problem arises in their community. If the accused is later cleared, then that gets reported, too. In contrast, the medical disciplinary system, like church procedure before it, is usually geared to protecting the identities of everyone concerned. In Colorado, for example, even a patient may not come back to the medical board after filing a complaint and request information about his or her own complaint. One reason the AJC undertook this project was to let all patients know that there are things they can do to protect themselves. The first is to know how an intimate medical exam is supposed to proceed: read about it here.

Note: See a list of powerful articles revealing egregious and rampant sexual abuse by doctors around the US. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and health.


State lets doctors accused of sexual abuse on patients keep practicing
2016-07-09, Palm Beach Post
Posted: 2018-08-27 17:31:31
http://palmbeachhealthbeat.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2016/07/06/state-lets-docto...

Dawn Marie Basham answers the phone in tears. Less than a week earlier, prosecutors had dropped charges against the Delray Beach doctor she said sexually assaulted her during an office visit. Basham feels alone, but she is far from it. Other women say they are sexually victimized by their physician. And while some South Florida doctors eventually lose or give up their licenses, others continue to practice even after they admit to sexual misconduct on a patient, a Palm Beach Post investigation led by its sister newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, found. A convoluted complaint system in Florida can end up protecting these doctors, giving them every opportunity to mitigate discipline. I feel I failed somehow. I didnt get any justice, Basham says of her criminal sexual battery case against Dr. Manuel Abreu. The case fell apart when Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Charles Burton barred other alleged victims from testifying. Now she waits ... to see whether the Florida Department of Health acts on her complaint against Abreu, hoping, she says, he loses his ability to practice. Potential patients researching Abreu on the state Board of Medicines website would see his license listed as clear and active. They would have no idea whether the state acted when Abreu was arrested on sexual battery charges in March 2015 after Basham and eight other women sued the doctor for sexual battery. It can be years before an administrative complaint shows up on an accused doctors disciplinary record.

Note: See a list of powerful articles revealing egregious and rampant sexual abuse by doctors around the US. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and health.


More than 300 accused priests listed in Pennsylvania report on Catholic Church sex abuse
2018-08-14, Washington Post
Posted: 2018-08-20 03:01:59
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/08/14/pennsylvania-...

More than 300 Catholic priests across Pennsylvania sexually abused children over seven decades, protected by a hierarchy of church leaders who covered it up, according to a sweeping grand jury report released Tuesday. The investigation ... identified 1,000 children who were victims, but reported that there probably are thousands more. Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades, the grand jury wrote in its report. The 18-month investigation covered six of the states dioceses ... and follows other state grand jury reports that revealed abuse and coverups in two other dioceses. The grand jury reviewed more than 2 million documents, including from the secret archives - what church leaders referred to the reports of abuse they hid from public for decades, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. Few criminal cases may result from the massive investigation. As a consequence of the coverup, almost every instance of abuse we found is too old to be prosecuted, the report said. The grand jurys report follows the resignation last month of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a towering figure in the U.S. church and a former archbishop of Washington who was accused of sexually abusing children and adults for decades.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.


The scale of the Catholic Churchs criminality still shocks
2018-08-14, Washington Post
Posted: 2018-08-20 02:59:47
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-scale-of-the-catholic-churchs-cri...

The Catholic Churchs decades-long practice of enabling and systematically covering up the rape and molestation of children by priests is by now sickeningly familiar. Yet the scale of abuse; the breadth and depth of trauma inflicted by predators wearing Roman collars; and the coldbloodedness of senior church figures zealous in their resolve to protect the church but indifferent to the suffering of minors, retain their power to shock the conscience. So it was Tuesday when Pennsylvanias Supreme Court released a massive report on decades of alleged abuse in six of the states eight dioceses, where nearly 2 million Catholics live today. The report ... lays out what amounts to a criminal conspiracy, breathtaking in its scope, reaching from parishes and parochial schools to the Vatican. The report names some 300 accused predator priests, who allegedly abused at least 1,000 victims. Yet even as the findings were published, the coverup continues: The report is heavily redacted, owing to ongoing litigation by unidentified clergymen and others seeking to block publication of certain names. That, Attorney General Josh Shapiro noted, is a coverup of a decades-long coverup. The conspiracy as in Boston and practically every major city in the United States and many overseas involved bishops, archbishops and even cardinals. Even as apologists for the Vatican ... continue peddling the myth that the Catholic Churchs pedophile scandals simply reflect societys problems, the weight of evidence is overwhelming proof to the contrary.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.


CBS chief Leslie Moonves accused of sexual misconduct in Ronan Farrow article
2018-07-27, ABC News
Posted: 2018-08-06 00:15:07
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/cbs-chief-leslie-moonves-accused-sexual-...

The New Yorker has published a bombshell investigation of the head of CBS Corporation that includes allegations of sexual misconduct. The article by Ronan Farrow alleges that CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior, including unwanted kissing and touching that occurred over 20 years ago. Farrow told ABC News that his latest piece is "about six women who did an incredibly brave thing: overcoming tremendous fear of retaliation to speak about their experiences with Moonves. But its also a story about dozens and dozens of sources who told us that a culture of harassment and retaliation had permeated various facets of his company," he said. The women recalled events when they were threatened with retaliation when rebuffing advances and detailed accounts of sexual assault. They "say that they are still afraid of Les Moonves," Farrow said. "They are speaking because they believe there is a broader culture around him in which he has protected other men who have engaged in similar misconduct," Farrow said. Moonves denied any allegations of sexual assault but acknowledged, "I recognize that there were times decades ago when I may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances. Those were mistakes, and I regret them immensely." A person "familiar with the situation" told The Wall Street Journal that CBS has no plans to sideline Moonves.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on corporate corruption and sexual abuse scandals.


Medical profession condemns sexual abuse by doctors but resists solutions
2016-07-06, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2018-08-06 00:13:21
http://doctors.ajc.com/ama_sex_abuse_doctors/

The nations largest medical society says it has zero tolerance for doctors who sexually abuse patients. But ... the association does not favor the automatic revocation of the medical license of every doctor who commits sexual abuse of a patient. It does not expel every offender from its membership rolls. It has never independently researched the prevalence of sexual abuse in clinical settings. Twenty-six years ago it declared sexual misconduct a breach of medical ethics, but since then it has remained all but mute on the issue. It has, however, fought to keep confidential a federal database of physicians disciplined for sexual misconduct and other transgressions. When a proposal to open the database emerged in Congress, a former House staff member said, the AMA crushed it like a bug. Patient advocates say the AMA and other medical organizations have shown reluctance to confront the scope and impact of sexual misconduct, further exacerbating the problem. At some point the profession has to take responsibility to accept that there are things that need to be done in regard to protecting patients, said Lisa McGiffert, manager of the Safe Patient Project for the advocacy group Consumers Union. Its always been puzzling to me that doctors dont collectively say, We dont want these bad apples in our profession. They give us a bad name.

Note: See a list of powerful articles revealing egregious and rampant sexual abuse by doctors around the US. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and health.


This Is Unacceptable: How the UN Falls Short in Responding to Alleged Sex Abuse
2018-07-24, PBS
Posted: 2018-07-29 16:23:02
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/this-is-unacceptable-how-the-un-fa...

When UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres visited the Central African Republic (CAR) in October of 2017, his words echoed a theme that hed been sounding since taking office in January: Stemming the problem of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers was among his top priorities. The same month of Guterres visit to CAR, the UN had received a report of a new rape case there. A young woman named Mauricette, who was 17 at the time, said she was raped by peacekeepers on her way home from a funeral. Mauricette went months without hearing from the UN after her initial interview with them. The details of what allegedly happened to Mauricette are grim. She was vomiting, says Jean-Gaston Endjileteko, who works at Samaritans Medical Center, where Mauricette had been treated. She told me she had drunk some drugged tea spiked with a powder at the Mauritanian checkpoint. The hospital reported Mauricettes rape, and she was interviewed by a local UN representative. But then, the UN went silent. Ive heard nothing, Mauricette says. No news. That was approximately two months after Mauricettes initial interview with the UN so [PBS correspondent Ramita] Navai brought the delay to the attention of Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, Head of UN Mission, Central African Republic. Mauricette still hadnt heard anything further from the UN four months after FRONTLINE brought the delay in communication with her about her case to the UNs attention.

Note: An hour-long episode of PBS FRONTLINE details the sad case introduced by the article above. In 2015, more than a year after allegations of UN peacekeepers sexual abusing children came to light, it was reported that the UN had taken disciplinary action against the whistleblower who exposed wrongdoing, but not against the soldiers accused of abuses. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.


The King of Shambhala Buddhism Is Undone by Abuse Report
2018-07-11, New York Times
Posted: 2018-07-29 16:20:18
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/nyregion/shambhala-sexual-misconduct.html

Mipham Rinpoche ... is the head of one of the largest Buddhist organizations in the West, Shambhala International, a network of more than 200 outposts in over 30 countries where thousands come for training in meditation. He is known as the Sakyong, a Tibetan word that translates roughly as king, and his students take vows to follow him that are binding across lifetimes. Late last month, a former Shambhala teacher released a report alleging that the Sakyong had sexually abused and exploited some of his most devoted female followers for years. Women quoted in the report wrote of drunken groping and forcefully extracted sexual favors. The report said that senior leaders at Shambhala an organization whose motto is Making Enlightened Society Possible knew of the Sakyongs misconduct and covered it up. On Friday ... the governing council of Shambhala International, which is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, resigned en masse, in the interest of beginning a healing process for our community. The Sakyong ... took leave from running Shambhala as an outside firm investigates abuse allegations against him and other Shambhala teachers. He would, the announcement stated, enter a period of self-reflection. The Sakyong is not only another executive or religious leader dethroned by #MeToo, but the sole holder of the most sacred teachings in a custody chain that goes back centuries, the only one who can transmit them, according to the traditions of his lineage.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing sexual abuse scandal news articles from reliable major media sources.


Why a national tracking system doesn't show the extent of physician sexual misconduct
2016-07-06, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2018-07-29 16:15:12
http://doctors.ajc.com/sex_abuse_national_database/

No red flags were apparent when the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine checked Dr. Jaroslav Jerry Stulcs background in 2007. But within months of joining a hospital staff, the surgeon was accused of sexual misconduct. The hospital ... suspended him with pay. Then, while he was out, the hospital and medical board learned that Stulc previously had been suspended by a Kentucky hospital following allegations of sexual misconduct. Skirting federal rules, the Kentucky hospital hadnt reported his suspension or subsequent resignation to the nationwide database established for hospitals and medical boards to share information on physician misconduct. Instead, just before Stulc applied for his Maine license, he and the hospital had agreed that he would voluntarily resign. The hospital wouldnt mention the suspension ... to anyone who inquired. Such private agreements, along with legal loopholes and outright flouting of the law, are among the reasons the nationwide repository - the National Practitioner Data Bank - can leave patients and medical staff vulnerable, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found. Even when hospitals and medical boards file reports, they may classify violations in a way that conceals the scope of physician sexual misconduct. Because of such gaps, the AJC - in reviewing board orders, court records and news reports - found about 70 percent more physicians accused of sexual misconduct than the 466 classified as such in the public version of the data bank from 2010 to 2014.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and health.


Doctors who sexually abuse patients go to therapy and then return to practice
2016-08-24, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2018-07-29 16:13:36
http://doctors.ajc.com/sex_abuse_treatment_over_punishment/

After medical regulators said he fondled patients, exposed himself and traded drugs for sex, Dr. David Pavlakovic easily could have lost his license. Law enforcement thought his acts were criminal. Instead of losing his job, Pavlakovic was placed in therapy. He was allowed to return to practice. And he didnt even have to tell his patients. Society has become intolerant of most sex offenders, placing some on lifelong public registries and banishing others from their professions or volunteer activities. But medical regulators have embraced the idea of rehabilitation for physicians accused of sexual misconduct. It is left to private therapists ... to unearth the extent of a doctors transgressions. There is little pretense of the check and balance of public scrutiny. Even doctors with egregious violations are allowed to redeem themselves through education and treatment centers, which have quietly proliferated over the past two decades. These education and treatment programs are being used by regulators in virtually every state. The Catholic Church once secretly sent sex offender priests for psychiatric treatment, then returned them to service. The abuse, the church reasoned, was a spiritual failing requiring repentance and forgiveness. Most medical authorities have embraced a similar approach, but through the lens of sexual abuse as the sign of a mental disorder. Public board orders on regulators websites reveal dozens of physicians who were found to have re-offended after taking part in education or treatment programs.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and health.


State Concludes Doctor-Sex Abuse Study With Brief Statement
2017-06-24, US News and World Report/Associated Press
Posted: 2018-07-22 17:57:56
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/georgia/articles/2017-06-24/state-con...

Georgia has concluded a year-long review of physician sexual misconduct cases brought to light by an Atlanta newspaper with a plan to educate doctors. The state's plan focuses on educating doctors, rather than seeking new patient protections as some states have done. Two-thirds of Georgia physicians disciplined for sexually violating patients were permitted to practice again by the Georgia Composite Medical Board. The board announced last year that it would review its handling of those cases. But instead of producing a comprehensive report, the board recently released a one-page statement. The board vowed that it will protect patients from Georgia doctors who "use coercion or power for sex" by educating doctors about the importance of reporting colleagues. It also said it would investigate all allegations and involve law enforcement when appropriate; and that it will discipline doctors with public consent orders and license revocations when allegations are proven. The board did not call for any changes in its rules or in state law even though the state lacks key patient protection measures. Among the gaps: Georgia has no law requiring doctors to report possible violations by their fellow doctors, nor is the medical board legally required to notify law enforcement of potential criminal acts.

Note: See a list of powerful articles revealing egregious and rampant sexual abuse by doctors around the US. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and health.


Repeat offender still licensed to treat Georgia patients
2016-07-06, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2018-07-22 17:56:15
http://doctors.ajc.com/georgia_doctor_sex_abuse/

During a career spanning nearly 30 years in Georgia, Dr. William Almon has reinvented himself in numerous ways in numerous places. What hasnt changed is his ability to practice medicine. In three different settings, Almon faced allegations that he sexually violated extremely vulnerable female patients a suicidal soldier, jail inmates, a mentally ill woman and a child of 14 and every time was effectively given a pass. Of the thousands of cases reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in its investigation of physician sexual misconduct, few show the forces that protect offending doctors more dramatically. At Fort Gordon outside Augusta ... he admitted that he had sex with a hospitalized patient. The patient, a private, was found immediately afterward on the floor of her hospital room, curled up and crying. The Army ... allowed him to resign in lieu of facing a court-martial. At the Augusta jail ... he was charged with sexually abusing three inmates. prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges. And at WellStars East Paulding Primary Care Center, where Almon was hired even though corporate officials knew of his background, he was accused of molesting two patients. One was a woman who is schizophrenic. The other was a 14-year-old girl. The charges could have brought a prison sentence, but prosecutors allowed the doctor to plead no contest to misdemeanor counts of battery and sexual battery and receive probation. Then the Georgia Composite Medical Board negotiated an agreement that let him continue practicing.

Note: Watch a video produced by AJC for more details on this egregious case. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and health.


A broken system forgives sexually abusive doctors in every state
2016-07-06, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2018-07-22 17:53:56
http://doctors.ajc.com/doctors_sex_abuse/

In a national investigation, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution examined documents that described disturbing acts of physician sexual abuse in every state. Rapes by OB/GYNs, seductions by psychiatrists, fondling by anesthesiologists and ophthalmologists, and molestations by pediatricians and radiologists. A few physicians with hundreds of victims are among the nations worst sex offenders. The Roman Catholic Church, the military, the Boy Scouts, colleges and universities ... have all withered under the spotlight of sexual misconduct scandals and promised that abuse will no longer be swept under the rug. The medical profession, however, has never taken on sexual misconduct as a significant priority. And layer upon layer of secrecy makes it nearly impossible for the public, or even the medical community itself, to know the extent of physician sexual abuse. The AJC launched its national investigation a year ago after reaching a surprising finding in Georgia: two-thirds of the doctors disciplined in the state for sexual misconduct were permitted to practice again. Some states are apparently more forgiving than others when disciplining doctors in sexual misconduct cases. Georgia and Kansas, for example, allowed two of every three doctors publicly disciplined for sexual misconduct to return to practice. In Minnesota, it was four of every five. Nationwide, the AJC found that of the 2,400 doctors publicly disciplined for sexual misconduct, half still have active medical licenses today.

Note: If you live in the US, see how well your state does in protecting patients from sexual abuse using this chart. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on sexual abuse scandals and health.


Which doctors are sexually abusive?
2016-07-06, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta's leading newspaper)
Posted: 2018-07-22 17:52:26
http://doctors.ajc.com/doctors_who_sexually_abuse/

In public, Louis William Bair was brilliant, warm and engaging. In private ... women would later tell of groping, of vulgar comments and of aggressive, closed-door sex in his office. Bair was a doctor, and the women were his patients. Sexual contact between doctors and patients in Colorado, as in other states, is prohibited. But when Bair drew the attention of the Colorado Medical Board in 2002, it wasnt because of violations. It was because the governor chose him to serve on the board, where he could help judge disciplinary cases for other physicians. Bairs dual existence illustrates one of the most surprising findings of an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation of sexual misconduct by doctors. Among those found to have sexually abused patients are some of the most accomplished and admired revered, even physicians in the country. Their violations range from subjecting patients to lewd remarks ... to rape. Often, despite significant evidence to the contrary, doctors balk at acknowledging they have done anything wrong , whether they have victimized a sole patient or hundreds. They may say they were helping their victims, or that they werent even doing anything sexual. Bair ... liked to revel in his sexual exploits, sipping scotch with his friend Kent Black, bragging about how good he was in bed. Black recounted to the investigator that he once warned Bair that someday, someone would turn him in. But ... Bair had a ready response: That was "'the benefit of sitting on the board,'" Bair quipped. "'You can quash this stuff'."

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