A well-known doctor from the Boston area, Dr. Derrick Todd, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of rape. The indictment comes after numerous lawsuits were filed against him, accusing him of sexually assaulting over 200 of his former patients. The Middlesex County District Attorney announced that the alleged assaults took place during examinations at the Charles River Medical Associates in Framingham, Massachusetts, in December 2022 and June 2023.
Dr. Todd, a rheumatologist, turned himself into the police and appeared in Middlesex Superior Court. The two women involved in the indictment had undergone either a pelvic exam or pap smear with Dr. Todd when the alleged assaults occurred. The patients claimed that the examinations were not standard.
One of the women reportedly experienced such severe pain during the examination that she yelled at Dr. Todd to stop, but he continued. The second woman claimed that she did not give Dr. Todd consent to perform the specific examination, but he proceeded regardless. Dr. Todd pleaded not guilty to the two rape charges and was held on a $10,000 bail.
A judge ordered Dr. Todd to surrender his passport, avoid any contact with his alleged victims, and relinquish all medical licenses. Allegations of abuse by Dr. Todd date back to 2010 but only came to light in 2023 after Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital received anonymous complaints.
Dr. Todd, the former chief of clinical rheumatology at the Boston hospital, resigned in 2023 after 14 years when two other physicians questioned the appropriateness of his pelvic exams for rheumatology patients. Over 200 of Dr. Todd’s former patients have accused him of performing unnecessary pelvic floor therapy, breast examinations, testicular examinations, and rectal examinations. The accusers range from teenagers to 60-year-olds and include both men and women.
Attorneys representing 180 of the former patients believe that the two rape charges are just the beginning of Dr. Todd’s legal troubles. Dr. Todd voluntarily ended his medical practice in Massachusetts in September 2023. A class-action lawsuit against Dr. Todd also implicates the hospital for allegedly being aware of the abuse and failing to stop it. Dr. Todd was dismissed from the hospital in July 2024.