A dozen men who say they were molested as children by a pedophile pediatrician at an Upper East Side hospital are now suing the institution, claiming leadership at Rockefeller University Hospital turned a blind eye to the pervasive sexual abuse of a young boys by Dr. Reginald Archibald over the course of several decades.
The new lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, seeks to hold Rockefeller University accountable for the actions of Dr. Archibald, a prominent pediatric endocrinologist who died in 2007 and has since been credibly accused by hundreds of men of predatory child abuse.
Although these twelve men named in the suit have come forward using their real names rather than pseudonyms, Upper East Site has chosen not to identify the now-adult survivors of sexual abuse as a child.
The first plaintiff in the suit says he was ‘sexually abused, violently, and unlawfully touched’ by Dr. Archibald in his office at The Rockefeller University Hospital, located on the Upper East Side educational institution’s York Avenue campus, located between East 63rd and 68th Streets, for nearly seven years, starting in the fall of 1973.
“Dr. Archibald would undress the plaintiff to take pictures of [the boy’s] naked body. Under the guise of a medical examination, Dr. Archibald would forcefully fondle plaintiff’s genitals. Dr. Archibald would also force
[the child] to masturbate in front of him and, while plaintiff did so, Dr. Archibald would forcefully masturbate plaintiff’s penis,” the suit alleges.
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For two years in the mid 50’s, starting when the second plaintiff in this lawsuit was just 12 years old, “Dr. Archibald would forcefully fondle plaintiff under the guise of measuring [the boy’s] genitals. Dr. Archibald would also force [the child] to masturbate in front of him and, while plaintiff did so, Dr. Archibald would touch plaintiff’s penis.”
Another plaintiff reports that the sexual abuse by Dr. Archibald began for him in 1976, when he was just five years old.
“On at least ten different occasions,” the suit contends, “Dr. Archibald would forcefully fondle plaintiff under the guise of measuring his genitals. Dr. Archibald would also touch testicles and fondle the area between his testicles and anus and digitally penetrate him. Dr. Archibald also performed oral copulation on plaintiff and forced [the boy] to masturbate in front of him.”
These similar and equally horrific instances of abuse are repeated over and over throughout the suit from the men, who also say that the pedophile doctor regularly took photos of their naked bodies and genitals.
“The Rockefeller University Hospital knew or should have known that Dr. Archibald had the propensity to sexually abuse children while in the exclusive care and custody of defendant,” according to the lawsuit.
According to an investigation commissioned by Rockefeller University released in 2019, there were indications of alleged misconduct as early as 1960, when the report states “the New York County District Attorney’s Office issued a grand jury subpoena for medical records for two of Archibald’s patients, presumably prompted by a complaint.” No further action was taken in that case, according to the report.
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However, the hospital’s former physician-in-chief from 1960 through 1974, reported receiving several complaints from patients, relatives and staff about Dr. Archibald’s examinations of children’s genitals.
The report also states that more than 900 people contacted the independent investigators to report their experiences with Dr. Archibald, or experiences on behalf of others.
Rockefeller University was hit with an avalanche of lawsuits once New York State’s Child Victims Act went into effect in 2019, giving hundreds of Dr. Archibald’s victims a year to pursue claims for abuse they endured as children. In Manhattan alone, more than one hundred lawsuits were filed against the hospital, according to a review of court filings by Upper East Site.
However, because the lookback period, as its called, in the Child Victims Act has already passed, the new lawsuit filed this week was brought under a different law.
After being amended last year, New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act now gives adult survivors of gender-motivated violence — like young boys molested for decades by a pedophile — a two year lookback period, starting March 1st, during which they have the right to sue in cases where too much time had lapsed to take action previously.
“Dr. Archibald’s barbaric acts against plaintiffs, and others young boys, is a crime of violence motivated by gender,” the suit contends, noting “the fact that all of his victims were male.”
When reached by Upper East Site, a spokesperson for The Rockefeller University declined to comment on the pending litigation.
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