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Eight More Sue St. Francis In Sex Abuse Case

By DANIEL P. JONES | Courant Staff Writer

April 1, 2008

Eight more people — including a man who claims Dr. George Reardon raped him repeatedly — have filed a lawsuit against St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center alleging negligence in not preventing the prominent endocrinologist from sexually abusing them.

"It's just another example of the depravity of Reardon and the increasing toll that the hospital's failure to intervene has taken on innocent lives," lawyer Joel Faxon, whose firm represents 44 of the plaintiffs, said Monday.

Reardon, who died in 1998, practiced medicine at St. Francis from 1963 to 1993, when he resigned in the face of accusations that he molested and inappropriately photographed children for decades, starting in the 1950s. A massive cache of slides and videos showing children in what police described as pornographic poses was discovered in November in Reardon's former West Hartford home.

Since then, some 85 men and women who say Reardon abused them have filed complaints against the hospital, according to lawyers involved in the case.

The Stratton Faxon law firm in New Haven filed the latest lawsuit on behalf of the eight new plaintiffs in Superior Court in Waterbury, where Judge William T. Cremins is presiding over the cases as part of a complex litigation docket. The plaintiffs' lawyers and lawyers for the hospital agreed last week to try to settle the cases through mediation.

Many of the people suing the hospital say Reardon fondled them and photographed them in degrading poses. They also say the doctor lured them by telling them or their parents they would be advancing science by participating in a growth study, according to the plaintiff's lawyers.

No such studies were presented during medical hearings in the early 1990s when Reardon's attorneys were fighting for his license.

The man who alleges Reardon raped him repeatedly — identified in the latest lawsuit as John Doe no. 32, was a teenage patient when the incidents took place in Reardon's hospital examining room in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Faxon said. The man is now in his 40s and lives in the Hartford area, he said.

"He leads a very unfortunate, disorganized life at this point," Faxon said of the man.

The eight new plaintiffs, six men and two women, all allege that Reardon fondled them and took lewd pictures of them in his hospital office.

Barry Feldman, general counsel and senior vice president for the hospital, said, "It would be inappropriate for us to discuss details surrounding a specific case while in litigation."

Contact Daniel P. Jones at dpjones@courant.com.

Visit www.courant.com/reardon for previous coverage of the Dr. George Reardon case

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