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 December 17, 2007
The Legal Recourse For Reardon's Victims
Jason Tremont, Hartford Courant
Currently representing and reviewing claims against Dr. George Reardon and
St. Francis Hospital. Please call 1-877-335-5145. |
The abhorrent news that the late Dr. George Reardon, a formerly respected member of the medical community, was a purveyor of child pornography and abused and photographed children for decades in his hospital office once again raises the issue of liability and appropriate punishment.
Reardon, an endocrinologist at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford for 30 years, died in 1998, five years after resigning amid allegations that he sexually molested and photographed children, starting in the 1950s and continuing for decades.
The doctor's perversions resurfaced when the present owner of Reardon's former home exposed a cache of pornographic photographs during renovations. In addition to uncovering long-hidden proof of an extraordinary level of pedophilia, the discovery also uncovered a long-buried secret past for what could be hundreds of victims of the doctor's aberrant urges.
With the doctor long since dead, criminal charges against him are moot. The only viable legal remedy left for the victims is through our civil courts, for claims against St. Francis Hospital, which clearly should share at least some of the blame for his dreadful endeavors.
It was only five years ago that the state saw fit to ease some of the burden borne by victims of childhood sexual abuse by extending the statute of limitations in civil cases to 30 years after the victim reaches the age of majority - age 48. That legislation was a major victory for victims of sexual abuse.
There is an entire class of citizens who have been sexually abused, long before they were physically, mentally or emotionally capable of defending themselves against these reprehensible predators.
In this case the photographic evidence, coupled with complaints that initially were made against him in 1993 (perhaps even earlier) goes beyond the need for proof. We have the proof. What we need is a means to adequately address the victims' claims through the legal process.
News reports on the discovery of Reardon's child pornography have prompted more than 100 calls to police from people who allege that Reardon sexually abused them or inappropriately photographed them. One lawsuit already has been filed in Hartford Superior Court by a man who states that Reardon abused him as a teenager in the 1970s in the doctor's hospital office.
It flies in the face of common sense that St. Francis Hospital did not know what was going on within its walls. With so many victims over so many years, there is no question that the hospital certainly should have known what was happening and at least investigated the matter.
The fact the institution should have known what was happening is a common standard of proof in civil litigation and there is no reason it should be suspended just because the perpetrator of this heinous abuse has died.
The crimes took place inside the hospital. The hospital fostered this environment for Reardon by failing to supervise the offices and activities of its staff.
Reardon used the trappings of the medical profession and his office, provided to him by the hospital, to lure victims to his lair. In a place where the American public goes for healing and comfort, he created emotional injury and pain.
It is not known at this time whether Reardon had any accomplices. This will be determined as the case proceeds. The only adequate means to ensure that the victims' complaints are adequately addressed and a deterrent established is to gain the ability through the courts to make all parties who were culpable in creating the conditions that led to this systematic abuse equally responsible.
Jason Tremont is a partner at the Bridgeport law firm Tremont & Sheldon.
Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant
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