Continuing public outrage over the sentence given in a Stanford rape case has prompted the judge to recuse himself from a child pornography case. A Massachusetts judge is under fire for giving a former high school star athlete two years' probation after he was accused of sexually assaulting two unconscious classmates.
The public was alerted in those cases because criminal courtrooms are open to the public and Americans have a presumed right of access to many court records.
But doctors who sexually violate patients may never face police, judge or jury, the AJC reports in its latest installment of a national investigation. Instead, they may answer only to medical regulators, whose investigations and hearings are often confidential. You can read the latest stories by clicking here.
Even doctors with trails of victims may never be reported to police, AJC investigative reporter Johnny Edwards found. Some medical boards told Edwards they leave it to victims to file the reports. But in some cases he writes about, the victims were unconscious and didn't know they had been abused.
Credit: Lois Norder
Credit: Lois Norder
There was no public outrage when these doctors quietly retired - or returned to practice after therapy. Only those savvy enough to dig up medical regulators' orders might know if sexually abusive doctors face the same consequences as those in other walks of life.
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