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	1st Trial Starts in Conn. Doctor Sex-abuse Case By Dave Collins Atlanta Journal-Constitution April 6, 2011 http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/1st-trial-starts-in-899267.html Middle-age men took the witness stand Tuesday and recounted how they were sexually abused when they were children by a late Connecticut doctor who police believe molested hundreds, if not thousands, of young victims over three decades. The civil case of John Doe No. 2 in Waterbury Superior Court is the first to reach trial among about 90 people who are suing St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center of Hartford. They allege hospital officials failed to prevent the abuse by Dr. George Reardon, who died in 1998 without facing criminal charges. One victim, a 50-year-old man known only as Tim Doe, testified that Reardon took pictures of him and his sister performing sex acts together. He said he saw Reardon over a three-year span beginning in 1969, when he was only about 8 years old, for what Reardon told parents and hospital officials was a human growth study. "He took pornographic pictures of us in his office," testified Tim Doe, who also has a pending lawsuit against the hospital. "He asked us to disrobe. He asked us to insert things." Jurors saw explicit photographs of Tim Doe and his sister, and graphic photos of two other victims who testified Tuesday. John Doe No. 2 is expected to testify later this week. The alleged abuse was revealed in 2007 when the owner of Reardon's former home in West Hartford cracked open a basement wall during a renovation project and found tens of thousands of slides and videos showing children in sexual acts and positions. The victims' testimony came after lawyers gave opening arguments. Hospital officials don't dispute that Reardon molested children in his office at the hospital, but say officials didn't know what was going on at the time and the hospital shouldn't be held liable. The hospital's attorney, Paul Williams, told the jury that any anger should be directed at Reardon, not the hospital. He said no one complained to hospital administrators when the abuse was happening. "We are all angry at what he did," Williams said. "We're certainly not in any way defending his actions." From all outward appearances, Reardon was a respected endocrinologist who trained many fellow physicians and was involved in legitimate research and publications, Williams said. The hospital's lawyers also pointed out that Reardon did take scores of measurements of the children that appeared to lend credibility to the study, although he never published his findings. The plaintiff in the case that began Tuesday is a firefighter in his early 40s who says he and his brother were molested by Reardon at least 75 times when they were boys in the 1970s. His lawyer, Michael Stratton, told the jury in his opening statement that his client suffers from anxiety, depression and has trouble with personal relationships because of Reardon. Stratton said St. Francis officials failed to check if Reardon's growth study was valid, failed to monitor it and failed to protect children. Stratton accused the hospital of essentially giving Reardon access to countless victims in a "private playground." "Nobody ever asks why are we doing this?" Stratton asked, referring to the growth study. "Dr. Reardon's dead. You can't make him pay. ... He couldn't have done this without the hospital looking the other way for 20 years." Another victim, using the pseudonym William Roe, testified that Reardon performed a sex act on him in the late 1960s while he and his three brothers were taking part in the study. Roe said Reardon asked his mother for permission to include him and his three brothers in the growth study after one brother had his tonsils removed at St. Francis in 1967. Roe said he and his brothers saw Reardon individually at the hospital for the study. When it was his turn, Roe said, he undressed and Reardon measured his genitals. He said Reardon then told him he needed to stimulate him, and then proceeded to touch his genitals to the point of ejaculation. Roe said he was about 12 at the time. Afterward, Roe's mother asked him and his brothers how the study went. "We all agreed that it was a very strange experience and that we did not want to return," Roe testified, but they did not give her all the details. "She told us we didn't have to go back." Reardon was chief of endocrinology at St. Francis, where he worked for three decades. Police have identified 250 victims by name, but hundreds of other children in the pornographic images never came forward. Investigators believe Reardon victimized at least 500 children, but they also believe the number of victims could be in the thousands. Police who interviewed the victims say many have struggled with broken relationships, substance-abuse problems, even suicide attempts. The abuse began in the 1950s, when Reardon was a young doctor in Albany, N.Y., and continued in Connecticut through the 1980s, authorities say. He resigned in 1993 amid molestation accusations, but he was never charged. In 1995, he was prohibited from practicing medicine in Connecticut or any other state. The officers who sifted through the photographs describe soul-wrenching images: Children posed in the nude, often in sexually suggestive poses or with objects inserted into their bodies. Some claim Reardon forced them to simulate sex acts with other children and manipulated their genitalia. The victims came from across Connecticut's capital area through referrals, but they were concentrated in the affluent suburb of West Hartford. John Doe No. 2's trial before Judge Dan Shaban is set to resume Wednesday and is expected to last a few weeks.
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