RICHMOND, Va. –
A jury has ruled in favor of three women who alleged they were sexually abused while patients at a Virginia children’s hospital, awarding them a total of US$300 million in damages.
The jury in Richmond Circuit Court on Friday awarded each woman US$60 million in compensatory damages and US$40 million in punitive damages, WTVR-TV reported.
A total of 46 former patients sued the Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents in New Kent, which treats vulnerable children, and Dr. Daniel Davidow, the hospital’s longtime medical director. In this first trial, the three former patients alleged that Davidow inappropriately touched them during femoral pulse exams.
“To have a group of people — a group of strangers — to look at them, to listen to them, to tell them that they believe them, that they believe in them, it broke them down, it broke them down in tears immediately,” said Kevin Biniazan, the women’s lawyer. ”It brook us all down in tears.”
Davidow’s attorney, Bob Donnelly, told the jury during opening statements that Davidow “unequivocally denies” the sexual assault allegations. Donnelly said the femoral pulse exam conducted by Davidow dates back to the 1960s and 1970s and is a “standard examination.”
Davidow was acquitted of felony sex abuse charges against two other former patients after a criminal trial in April.
The next civil trial is scheduled in March.