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Weill Cornell settles federal probe of claims it allowed sexual abuse to go unchecked
The hospital will add chaperone, reporting and escalation rules and commit $30 million to a new patient-safety institute, prosecutors said.
On Monday, Weill Cornell Medicine reached a federal agreement to strengthen sexual abuse prevention policies, resolving a criminal investigation into the hospital's failure to stop former urologist Darius Paduch.
Federal prosecutors revealed that administrators received complaints about Paduch's conduct as early as 2012 but failed to escalate them, allowing abuse of patients as young as 13 until 2019.
The hospital committed $30 million to create the Institute for Safe Patient Care and Patient Empowerment, adding to over $1 billion in civil settlements previously agreed to pay victims.
Under the new resolution, WCM must expand chaperone requirements, centralize complaint reporting, and conduct periodic reviews until 2031, while acknowledging previous policies were inadequate.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said the agreement sends a "strong, clear message to all healthcare institutions," as the system faces scrutiny alongside recent abuse convictions for doctors Robert Hadden and Zhi Allen Cheng.