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A disgraced Manhattan urologist — who is accused of sexually assaulting dozens of patients — performed unnecessary surgical procedures without anesthesia so he could “inflict pain” on them and later got the alleged victims hooked on opioids, a new lawsuit alleges.
The bombshell allegations were made public in another civil case against Darius Paduch, 55 — who has faced a slew of litigation and criminal charges involving the alleged abuse of over 70 men and children who sought his medical care.
Paduch “acted as a disgusting, sadistic, and perverted sexual predator who used his esteemed and trusted position” to carry out the abuse, a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit from Thursday claims.
The new case was filed by 58 men who claim Paduch sexually abused them under the guise of providing them with legitimate medical care over the course of his 19-year career as a urologist working at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and later at Northwell Health.
“For nearly two decades, Defendant Darius A. Paduch pretended to practice medicine in the field of Urology, while instead engaging in a career of racketeering, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, and sex-trafficking of both minors and adults,” the suit charges.
The sprawling 140-page complaint says the doctor sexually assaulted “thousands of patients” through a disturbing pattern where he groomed them, including through commenting on their bodies and sexual activity.
After breaking down the patients’ boundaries, Paduch would carry out the abuse, including making them masturbate in front of him or masturbating them himself — sometimes insisting they get on all fours so he could “stimulate” or “milk” their prostate gland, the filing claims.
He would take photos, play porn for them and use “phallic-shaped” sex toys on them, the court papers claim.
Paduch also “performed unnecessary surgical procedures on patients, often without any anesthesia, in an effort to inflict pain [on] the patients,” the suit claims.
Then he “dispensed copious opioid medication in an effort to get his patients addicted so that he could better manipulate, control, exploit and abuse them — all without any basis in actual medical standards of care,” the filing alleges.
The hospitals — which are also named as defendants in the suit — “all knew, early on, exactly what defendant Darius A. Paduch was doing to their patients,” the suit charges.
In fact, a top Weill Cornell Medical Ethics officer Dr. Joseph Fins — also named as a defendant — was told directly about Paduch’s abuse of an underage boy. But instead of taking it to the State Office of Professional Medical Conduct, he tried to cover it up, the filing claims.
Fins and the Ethics Board at Weill Cornell had hospital lawyers try to “buy the victim’s silence,” the suit claims.
“The abuse inflicted upon these unsuspecting male patients, as a result of [hospitals’] cover-ups, is almost indescribable,” the court papers allege.
Plaintiff lawyer Anthony DiPietro said his clients are seeking accountability from the institutions that allowed this to happen.
“New York-Presbyterian Hospital has a long history of protecting sexual predators—and then feigning ignorance after they’ve been caught. It’s time for the hospital and its Admins to be held accountable,” DiPietro said.
The first lawsuit against Paduch came out in December after New York’s Adult Survivors’ Act took effect, allowing victims of abuse to bring claims regardless of when the abuse occurred — during a one-year look-back period.
In April, the doctor was arrested on related federal criminal charges and is behind bars pending trial.
Northwell Health reiterated a prior statement saying that the doctor doesn’t work at the hospital anymore and that it would cooperate with any investigation.
“Northwell Health strives to provide the highest level of care to its patients, patients’ families and communities and we take these allegations very seriously,” the hospital said in a statement.
A spokesperson with NewYork-Presbyterian deferred comment to Weill Cornell, saying that’s where the doctor was employed.
A spokesperson for Weill Cornell Medicine called the allegations against Paduch “extremely disturbing” and said “we feel deeply for all those involved” in a statement to The Post.
“No patient who entrusts us with their care should ever experience such appalling behavior. We continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement and are committed to maintaining the highest professional and ethical standards,” the spokesperson said.
Fins and a criminal defense attorney for Paduch all didn’t immediately return requests for comment Thursday.
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