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	Htfd Diocese Sued in Doctor Sex Case By Rebecca Santillo WTNH October 14, 2009 http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/hartford_cty/news_wtnh_hartford_diocese_lawsuit_200910141210 [with video] Hartford (WTNH) - Alleged victims of the late Dr. George Reardon, who worked at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, are now targeting the Hartford Catholic Archdiocese. Looking the other way while children were assaulted is not a new charge against the church. But this is the first time they may be held accountable for someone, not in the church, but in a church hospital. "St. Francis was run by two different nuns during the tenure of George Reardon," said Attorney Joel Faxon. The attorney for 49 of the victims, Faxon said one of the nuns was the Executive Director of St. Francis Hospital in Hartford and was on a committee tasked with over-seeing Dr. Reardon's research; his so-called growth study. "They had someone who could've done something about this at the highest level of that hospital and for whatever reason, they did nothing," Faxon said. The first official complaint of child molestation was lodged back in 1970. But Dr. Reardon continued to see children alone, in the hospital, even on nights and weekends. When his home was sold two years ago, the new owners found a stash of tens of thousands of slides and more than 100 move reels of child pornography; pictures that Dr. Reardon allegedly took of his patients. "In addition to that, we have Reardons' perverse, sick medical records where he would go into detail about what he was doing to these children. The man was a monster," said Faxon. Faxon said there was never any publications, no data from his study, but the hospital continued to fund it. "The hospital was buying Reardon's cameras, photographic equipment, development equipment, provided him a bed in his examining room, it wasn't an examining table, it was an actual bed," said Faxon. But is the church legally liable for a doctor working in a Catholic hospital? Faxon said yes; it was a close enough relationship that those nuns either knew and did nothing or should have known. "Reardon was not a priest but you know, he had a very close relationship obviously with the hospital, with the archdiocese, it controlled the hospital at that time," said Faxon. Dr. Reardon died in 1998. Now, 135 people are currently suing St. Francis hospital and talks have stalled and their cases will be going to trial though not until the spring of 2011. The only comment the Hartford Archdiocese would give is that they don't comment on pending lawsuits.
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