Unethical Behavior in the Saint Francis Hospital / Reardon Sex Abuse Cases

Many people have been following the recent sexual abuse litigation against Saint Francis Hospital. Prior to his death, Dr. George Reardon, a doctor at Saint Francis Hospital, abused hundreds of children from the 1960s through the 1980s under the guise of a growth study at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford. This year two of the victims have had their day in court. Stanger & Arnold, LLP represents several of the victims in this matter.

In a ruling issued on August 1, 2011, the court found that the defense lawyers withheld relevant evidence in the Saint Francis Hospital sexual abuse cases. As part of the discovery process the defendants are required to turn over relevant evidence that is requested. What the judge just decided was that in January of 2010 the victims of the sexual abuse had requested the information that was not turned over until just a few months ago. In fact much of it was not turned over to the plaintiffs until after the trial of two of the cases that were completed this year. It was not turned over until after many of the plaintiffs had settled their cases. Sounds like lawyers behaving very badly. It is unclear how much Saint Francis Hospital knew and exactly what part Saint Francis Hospital played in attempting to hide the truth. But it is clear that the court has decided it was wrong and that someone had to pay.

To learn more about the Saint Francis Hospital / Reardon sex abuse cases, click here for the article printed in the Hartford Courant. More about this in upcoming posts.