Rockefeller University Sex Abuse Lawsuit

The lawyers of Levy Konigsberg, recognized nationally for representing thousands of children in the NYCHA and Flint lead poisoning disasters, have filed a class action lawsuit against Rockefeller University Hospital based on the actions of its employees in regard to the sexual abuse of child patients and additional trauma inflicted upon survivors years after the initial abuse.

Background

For over 40 years, Rockefeller University Hospital allowed Dr. Reginald Archibald to molest children under the guise of medical treatment.

For more than four decades, Dr. Reginald Archibald molested young children while he was an employee of Rockefeller University Hospital. Archibald was a specialist of growth and maturation and used his access to pediatric patients to sexually abuse thousands of patients that were under his care. Some victims have reported that Archibald physically abused them and took pornographic photographs of them while they were receiving “care.”

The sexual abuse occurred at Rockefeller University during a university-sanctioned research program and involved the use of university-owned equipment. It is not clear to what extent Rockefeller University officials were aware of the abuse as it was taking or when they became aware that it had occurred, but there have been allegations of abuse since the 1990s and the University itself admits that it was aware of the abuse in 2004 at the latest. Several of Archibald’s victims claim that they filed complaints with the hospital, but it did not take any action.

While Rockefeller Hospital knew about Archibald's abuse since at least 2004 and likely much earlier, it waiting to contact victims until 2018. When the institution finally took the time to reach out, it did so in a mass mailing to former patients of Archibald. Many of the victims contacted by the hospital were shocked to receive a letter from the institution that facilitated Archibald's abuse reminding them of the traumatic experiences they had decades earlier.

Rockefeller University has engaged in a pattern of misconduct with respect to Dr. Archibald and his victims by choosing to ignore sexual abuse that was happening on its watch, being more concerned with its reputation than the safety of its patients, and issuing a traumatizing, self-motivated, and invasive mass letter to victims.

The Lawsuit

We have filed a class action lawsuit against Rockefeller University that includes class allegations on behalf of all of Dr. Archibald’s former patients that have received and were re-traumatized by the defendant’s 2018 mass mailing. Our lawsuit alleges that the University’s unsolicited communication intruded upon the seclusion of adult survivors of childhood abuse and intentionally and negligently inflicted emotional distress on a vulnerable class of individuals.

If you were abused by Reginald Archibald and Rockefeller University Hospital, please contact us today for a free case consultation. We can be reached at 1-800-606-1829 or through the form on this page.