An adult survivor of child sex abuse recently filed legal action against the Rockefeller University Hospital, alleging they allowed a pedophile to have easy access to thousands of young patients.

Now a resident of Florida, the claimant filed this sex abuse lawsuit after recent legislation in New York was passed that allows an adult survivor of child sex abuse to seek justice for their traumas when they may not have been able to due to the statute of limitations.

Plaintiff Jeffrey P. alleges he had suffered childhood sexual trauma at the hands of Dr. Reginald Archibald, who had been working at the hospitals as a pediatric endocrinologist since 1940. The lawsuit states that Dr. Archibald worked at the Rockefeller Institute and its associated hospitals as a physician and senior physician and treated numerous patients up until at least 1987.

During his time at Rockefeller, Dr. Archibald treated approximately 9,000 pediatric patients, each of whom were reportedly undersized or had some trouble growing, according to Jeffrey’s complaint. He says the children’s physical maladies made them especially vulnerable to predators like Dr. Archibald, and that they were too young to know the difference between molestation and legitimate medical examination.

Jeffrey’s lawsuit alleges Dr. Archibald abused children for over 40 years. He says Rockefeller Hospitals allegedly represented him as safe and reliable to parents and the rest of the community while children were being traumatized in exam rooms. Jeffrey was allegedly one of these children.

The Plaintiff’s Allegations

Jeffrey says he was first taken to Dr. Archibald in 1975 in New York, for congenital deformities in his upper and lower body that caused him to be shorter than other children his age. His mother had been referred to Dr. Archibald, with Jeffrey’s first appointment on Oct. 15, 1975. Jeffrey continued to be his patient until 1980.

A number of of these appointments had been sexually traumatizing, Jeffrey claims, the first of which had happened when Dr. Archibald had persuaded Jeffrey’s mother to not come into the exam room with him, by stating a nurse would be there.

There was no nurse, and Jeffrey’s trauma began soon after Dr. Archibald locked them in the examination room. According to the lawsuit, Dr. Archibald performed a variety of depraved acts on Jeffery including taking nude pictures of him and forcing him to perform masturbation in front of him.

Jeffrey says that due to his deformities, this experience was very difficult for him and forced him to go into a fetal position to comply with Dr. Archibald’s demands. Jeffrey says he told the doctor that he wanted to leave the room at least once, but Dr. Archibald refused to let him go.

Jeffrey was reportedly eleven years old at the time this happened, with this traumatic incident being his first sexual experience. Jeffrey has since suffered emotional and mental difficulties, including depression, suicidal thoughts and having trouble in school.

The effects of sex abuse on child victims can cause them to go through a multitude of emotions and develop social anxiety issues that last their entire life. An adult survivor of child sex abuse may live with the effects of the experience for decades.

Jeffrey alleges his life for the past 30 years was severely damaged by Dr. Archibald’s abuse. He sued the Rockefeller Institute after receiving a letter from the institute stating it had conducted an investigation that had found Dr. Archibald may have touched pediatric patients in an inappropriate matter. The New York Child Victims Act makes this and other molestation lawsuits possible.

Jeffrey says this letter brought back all his trauma and spurred him to file legal action against the hospital as Dr. Archibald died in 2007. Other sexual assault victims in New York or Pennsylvania who suffered similarly can now turn to the Child Victims Act to help them.

His Sexual Abuse Lawsuit is Case No. 1:19-cv-01403, in the U.S. District Court of Southern New York.

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