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CT Med Board Don't Care About Perverts, etc (COURANT; Reardon Case)

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Mort Zuckerman

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Jan 3, 2010, 2:39:59 PM1/3/10

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Subject: CT Med Board Don't Care About Perverts, etc (COURANT; Reardon
Case)

Date: Jan 3, 2010 2:37 PM

Might as well sue the Catholics.
The CT Medical Board explicitly explained
that Yale and UConn can abuse anyone
they want, in any way they want.
http://www.actionlyme.org/CT_MED_BOARD_BLOW_OFF.htm
You can't argue with ^^^that:

"Yale MDs can do whatever they want."

KMDickson
http://www.actionlyme.org

=============================

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-reardon-trial-0102.artjan02,0,2039999,print.story
courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-reardon-
trial-0102.artjan02,0,4141647.story
Courant.com
SEX ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
Sex Abuse Allegations: 1st Trial In Case Involving Doctor Still 14
Months Away

By ARIELLE LEVIN BECKER

The Hartford Courant

January 2, 2010
Click here to find out more!

It will be 2011 before any of the victims of Dr. George Reardon get
their day in court against St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in
Hartford — at least two years after many had once expected to have the
matter behind them.

Superior Court Judge William Cremins has set March of 2011 for the
start of the first trial. The cases stem from allegations that Reardon
sexually abused children over several decades and that St. Francis,
where Reardon worked from 1963 to 1993, was negligent in failing to
stop him.

In the meantime, attorneys will be taking depositions from doctors who
were affiliated with St. Francis during Reardon's tenure. At least a
dozen depositions are scheduled through the end of January, and
attorneys plan to schedule another wave in February or March, said
Robert Reardon, one of the plaintiff attorneys.

Cremins said during a scheduling hearing that he wanted all of the
discovery to be completed before any of the trials begin so that when
the trials start, the focus will be on them.

The 2011 trial date means a lengthier process than many plaintiffs had
expected. In March of 2008, attorneys for both sides agreed to handle
the cases through mediation, rather than trials. At the time, Cremins
said he hoped the mediation would be resolved by the end of the year.

But the mediation lasted longer than that — a reflection, attorneys
said in early 2009, of the complexity of a set of cases with so many
plaintiffs — and ultimately broke down in October.

Attorneys representing more than 135 plaintiffs come from 16 firms and
are eager to begin the first trial, said Robert Reardon, who is part
of a steering committee of plaintiff attorneys. They believe that
success in the first trial — including substantial awards — will
prompt the hospital to settle the remaining cases, he said.

Preparing For Trial
It is not clear what discussions of money took place during mediation,
but court records offer a picture of how much the plaintiffs may be
seeking. Documents filed on behalf of more than 90 individual
plaintiffs in mid-2009 listed how much money each would accept to
settle their lawsuits. Combined, the total was more than $350 million.

Robert Reardon — unrelated to George Reardon — said his side will be
ready by the trial date. He suggested that St. Francis would have
preferred a longer delay.

"We would have been ready in 2010," Reardon said. "The judge settled
on March 2011, which we think gives St. Francis ample time to be
ready, and we certainly feel we'll be ready."

In a statement, the hospital said: "While the court has scheduled an
initial trial date of March, 2011, Saint Francis remains committed to
resolving these cases in a fair and prompt manner."

It is not clear which plaintiffs' cases will be heard in the first
trial.

Plaintiff attorneys have suggested beginning with 10 plaintiffs — five
selected by each side — followed immediately by additional trials.
During an October scheduling hearing, St. Francis attorney Stuart
Rosen said having 10 plaintiffs in one trial could pose issues of
prejudice.

George Reardon has been accused of abusing hundreds of children from
the 1950s to the 1990s. At least five people accused him of abuse
while he was still practicing at St. Francis, where he served as chief
of endocrinology.

St. Francis officials have said that the hospital did not know of the
specific allegations against Reardon until 1993, when state health
officials tried to revoke his license. Reardon died in 1998.

In 2007, a homeowner renovating Reardon's former West Hartford home
found more than 50,000 slides and 100 movie reels of child pornography
hidden behind wall panels in the basement. Since then, about 250
people have come forward with claims of being victims of Reardon's
abuse. Police believe Reardon may have abused more than 500 children.

Challenging The Age Limit
Lawsuits have described Reardon photographing children naked, in
degrading poses, and fondling or raping them in his private office at
St. Francis. Some of the children were patients, while others were
children that Reardon recruited from the community to participate in
what he claimed were growth studies.

Under Connecticut law, victims of child sexual abuse have until they
turn 48 — 30 years after they turn 18 — to bring a lawsuit. Some
people who say they were abused by Reardon have not filed lawsuits
because they were older than 48 when the photographs were discovered.

In addition, more than 40 of the current plaintiffs were older than 48
when their cases were filed.

Inspired by the Reardon case, state lawmakers proposed legislation
last year that would have extended the statute of limitations in cases
where material evidence is found that could not reasonably have been
discovered before, giving victims over 48 three years from the
discovery to file civil claims. Sexual assault counselors, victims and
plaintiff attorneys supported the bill, while St. Francis and the
Archdiocese of Hartford opposed it.

Ultimately, the legislature's judiciary committee did not vote on the
bill, which effectively killed it.

Robert Reardon said he expects another bill to be introduced in the
legislature this year to address the statute of limitations.

Even if that measure fails, plaintiff attorneys said they are pursuing
legal theories that will allow the lawsuits to proceed despite the
statute of limitations. Those arguments could include alleging that
the hospital engaged in a coverup that interfered with the victims'
ability to know they had been injured or had the right to take action,
and alleging that the hospital had a higher-than-average duty toward
children in its care and failed to fulfill it.

"[Real] scientists are *fiercely* independent. That's the good
news."-- NIH's Top Fool, Anthony Fauci

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