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Former Brigham and Women’s doctor indicted on 81 new sexual assault charges
Dr. Derrick Todd is accused of performing unnecessary breast and pelvic exams on patients. He now faces more than 100 sexual assault charges in all.
In a case with little local precedent, a Suffolk County grand jury has indicted disgraced former Brigham and Women’s Hospital physician Dr. Derrick Todd on 81 new sexual assault charges involving nearly two dozen patients.
The allegations are rooted in Todd’s conduct at BWH and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital from 2017 to 2023, when he was publicly accused of performing unnecessary breast and pelvic exams. The 22 alleged victims, all women, range in age from 17 to 56, prosecutors said Tuesday.
“This is an extraordinary set of indictments, not just for the sheer volume of charges and number of women assaulted, but for the fact that all these women were violated by … a medical professional, the one person they entrusted to help them in their time of need,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden told reporters.
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Todd will be arraigned on the new charges in Suffolk Superior Court at a later date, he said.
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A rheumatologist and primary care physician who also practiced at Charles River Medical Associates in Framingham, Todd has already pleaded not guilty to 22 counts of rape and indecent assault and battery combined out of Middlesex County. He’s also been named in multiple pending malpractice lawsuits, with more than 200 former patients signing on to a class action complaint.
But Friday’s sweeping indictments “have little or no equivalent in the history of Suffolk County,” Hayden said.
The allegations against Todd first surfaced in 2023 after he parted ways with BWH and agreed to stop practicing medicine amid an investigation into his conduct. However, it would take Suffolk County prosecutors several more years to build their case against the once-prominent physician.
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“Simply put, the scale of victimization and the magnitude of trauma left in the wake of these allegations is something we have never encountered,” Hayden noted.
Defense attorney Ingrid Martin said in an emailed statement that Todd’s lawyers “have received no information about these charges, so we have no comment at this time.”
Hayden noted Todd’s former patients have been “incredibly courageous” and patient as prosecutors worked to bring charges. He accused Todd of carrying out a “calculated victimization” with “alarming deception,” alleging the rheumatologist exploited patients who were often in excruciating pain and desperate for relief.
“Dr. Todd intently groomed them all into quiet submission. He preyed upon their vulnerability,” Hayden said. “Dr. Todd violated and betrayed their hope and trust, time after time after time.”
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