BishopAccountability.org
	Extend Statute of Limitations for Victims of Sexual Abuse By Susan Campbell Hartford Courant April 14, 2010 http://www.courant.com/features/columnists/hc-campbellct0414.artapr14,0,3872687.column On Monday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops distributed a list of ways to keep children safe during April, Child Abuse Prevention Month. Admonitions included "sexual molestation is about the victim" and "common sense is not all that common." Kudos to the conference for being proactive. The Roman Catholic Church is in the middle of an international child abuse scandal involving clergy members preying on the most vulnerable of their flock, coupled with criticism about church hierarchy's action — or inaction — concerning the abuse. We are all too familiar with that here in Connecticut, home to what has to be the largest case of child abuse in legal history. The victims of George Reardon, a St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center endocrinologist, number in the hundreds, and that is why we need House Bill 5473, which effectively removes the statute of limitations on seeking redress after the sexual abuse, assault or exploitation of a minor. The hospital and the Archdiocese of Hartford oppose the bill, which also sets strict rules for people who want to file a lawsuit. While they lobby, people like Ed Karpuska are denied their day in court. At 53, Karpuska, of Tolland, talks about a life of missed opportunities after that first day with Reardon. "I knew I would never be the same," said Karpuska, who was an early and vocal witness in this sad case. He was 8 when he was first taken to Reardon for weight issues, and visited the doctor once or twice a month for the next four years. Reardon would hand Karpuska's mother a pack of cigarettes and she'd sit smoking in Reardon's office while nearby, behind a locked door, the doctor — unknown to the mother — assaulted her son. The doctor even offered to treat Karpuska off the books when the family struggled with unemployment. Reardon died in '98, and there's ample evidence, says Joel T. Faxon, of the New Haven law firm, Stratton Faxon, that St. Francis officials knew enough to suspect that all was not right with Reardon years earlier. For decades, Reardon said he was conducting a growth study. Where were the published papers? Where were the photos and slides he was taking? That film — at least some of it — was found in '07 hidden in the walls of Reardon's former house in West Hartford. So there's evidence, tens of thousands of pornographic slides and movies. Karpuska spent years trying to medicate his depression. He's drug-free now, and in therapy. Thoughts of suicide are at bay, but that begs the question: How many of Reardon's victims didn't make it? How many killed themselves? How many grew into adults with a half-life, never realizing their potential, never going to college, starting a family? How many of them, like Karpuska, still feel like they're walking those hospital hallways, praying for a rescue that never came? Time is running out for these people. Read that recent bishops' conference list — which, ironically, includes this: "Feeling heard leads toward healing." Stop the shameful stalling. Pass the bill.
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