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A once-prominent Massachusetts doctor accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of patients has been indicted on rape charges.
Derrick Todd is a Harvard-trained rheumatologist who had practiced at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
'This is criminal. He's a predator.'
A Middlesex County Grand Jury on Thursday indicted Todd on two counts of rape.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement, "The indictments are for two counts of rape alleging the sexual assault of two women who were his patients at the time of the assaults."
The alleged sexual assaults purportedly occurred during medical examinations in December 2022 and June 2023.
Todd on Friday morning appeared in court, where he pleaded not guilty to the rape charges.
The judge in the case ordered Todd to relinquish all of his medical licenses and forbade him to practice medicine and to have any contact with his alleged victims. Bail was set at $10,000 cash.
Todd's attorney, Anthony Abeln, previously said his client would "not litigate this matter in the media, but he will defend his care as the case progresses through the Massachusetts Superior Court system."
As Blaze News reported in October 2023, a class action lawsuit was filed against Todd over allegations of repeated sexual assaults during medical examinations.
Patients accused Todd of conducting unnecessary exams that were "performed for his own sexual gratification," according to the class action lawsuit filed in Suffolk County Superior Court.
The lawsuit notes that "these horrifying, traumatizing, and deplorable acts" took place "from at least as far back as 2011 and continuing through July 2023."
Despite the alleged sexual assaults happening for over a decade, patients only began to come forward with the accusations in the summer of 2023.
WBTS-TV reported that the lawsuit accused the Yale and University of Massachusetts graduate of sexually assaulting more than 200 patients and performing "unnecessary pelvic floor therapy, breast examinations, testicular examinations, and rectal examinations on more than 200 women and several men ranging from teens to people in their 60s."
Mimi DiTrani — a former patient who filed a lawsuit against Todd — told WBZ-TV that the rheumatologist opted for repeated gynecological exams and breast exams instead of conducting MRIs on her bones for her autoimmune rheumatological health issues.
DiTrani claimed that she "was sexually exploited, abused, harassed, and molested at the hands of serial sexual predator Defendant Derrick J. Todd." She also said the doctor asked her "a series of inappropriate, invasive, and exploitative questions about her appearance, sexual history, and sexual activity."
Lubin & Meyer attorney Robert Higgins, an attorney for the plaintiffs, declared that "this is criminal. He's a predator."
William Thompson of Lubin & Meyer stated, “It’s been a long wait for all of the 228 former patients who have come forward to date. And it serves as some vindication or acknowledgment that he is going to held accountable for what he has done to all the patients who put their trust in him as a physician.”
The lawsuit accuses the hospital systems of allowing Todd's alleged sexual abuse to take place while failing to "hire, supervise, manage, oversee, and retain competent medical providers who refrained from assault and inappropriate examinations of patients."
Todd resigned from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in July 2023 after the hospital conducted an internal investigation into the dozens of complaints.
“We also reached out to patients who were seen by Dr. Todd and offered extensive support for follow-up medical care, as well as assistance if they wanted to report their experience to law enforcement,” the Brigham and Women's Hospital said in a statement. “We take our duty to care for our patients and keep them safe extremely seriously.”
The hospital added, "We will continue to provide support and respond to our patients’ needs during this challenging time. We recognize the incredible courage it has taken for all patients who have come forward to ensure that this conduct was exposed.”
That same month, Todd resigned from Charles River Medical Associates.
In September, Todd signed a voluntary agreement with the Board of Registration in Medicine to stop practicing medicine anywhere in the country. The investigation into Todd's sexual assault accusations is ongoing.
Anyone with any information on the case is urged to contact the Framingham Police Department at 508-532-5924.
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