A former New York City urologist who was indicted earlier this year on federal charges after allegedly abusing patients is now being accused by 58 victims who say they were raped and forced to undergo unnecessary surgery without anesthesia so the doctor could “inflict pain” on them.
Dr Darius A Paduch, 55, of North Bergen, New Jersey, was hit with the bombshell accusations in a new Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit last week that alleged he “acted as a disgusting, sadistic, and perverted sexual predator who used his esteemed and trusted position”.
“For nearly two decades, Defendant Darius A. Paduch pretended to practice medicine in the field of Urology, while instead engaging in a career of racketeering, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, and sex-trafficking of both minors and adults,” the suit states.
The suit was filed by a group of 58 men who claim Mr Paduch sexually abused them during his time as an urologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and Northwell Health.
It comes just months after the disgraced doctor was indicted in April on federal charges for sexually abusing patients, including two males who were allegedly attacked before they became adults, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities said the attacks occurred at one Manhattan hospital from at least 2015 through 2019, and afterward at a second institution on Long Island.
Dozens of victims have since come forward which has resulted in a massive 140-page lawsuit that claims Paduch abused “thousands of patients” for nearly two decades of his 19-year career. The lawsuit was first reported by Daily Beast.
The disturbing allegations included forcing his patients to masturbate in front of him and to watch porn, and using “phallic-shaped” sex toys on them.
Mr Paduch was also accused of sometimes insisting his patients get down on all fours so he could “stimulate” or “milk” their prostate gland, the lawsuit claims.
In the new lawsuit that consisted of 58 male plaintiffs, including boys, there were also allegations that Mr Paduch “performed unnecessary surgical procedures on patients, often without any anesthesia, in an effort to inflict pain [on] the patients”.
He then 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”.
Darius Paduch— (Twitter / Darius Paduch)
One patient who was identified in the suit as John Doe 29 alleged that he saw Mr Paduch between 2012 and 2013. In that time, the doctor performed a bogus and unnecessary “varicocele” surgery that he claimed would cure erectile dysfunction, the victim claimed.
Another patient claimed Mr Paduch forced him to undergo excessive genital exams and digital sodomy.
The lawsuit named several New York City institutions, including New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, Northwell Health, and Long Island Jewish Medical Center.
It claimed Mr Paduch’s employers knew what he was doing, but instead of reporting it to the State Office of Professional Medical Conduct or local law enforcement, they 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”.
The former doctor was allowed to practice medicine until a month after his arrest when the Office of Professional Medical Conduct directed that he stop, the lawsuit alleged, despite his employers allegedly learning of his actions back in 2017.
Anthony T DiPietro, the lawyer who filed the new lawsuit on Thursday, told Daily Beast that his team wants to “expose the administrators who failed to protect patients from this known predator”.
“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,” Mr DiPietro said.
“We look forward to exposing the administrators who failed to 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.”
Following Mr Paduch’s arrest in April and again last week with the new lawsuit, Northwell Health released a statement that it takes “these allegations very seriously” and told The Daily Beast that the organization is cooperating with authorities.
A Weill Cornell Medicine spokesperson told Daily Beast that they are also continuing to cooperate with authorities and said “the conduct described in these suits is extremely disturbing”.
Mr Paduch has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and is no longer employed or affiliated with any hospitals.
His attorney Michael Baldassare denied the allegations.
“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,” Mr Baldassare told NBC New York. He added that his team “will defend this case to [the] greatest extent of the law."
