U.S. doctor accused of sexual abuse by more than 200 former patients indicted on rape charges

Dr. Derrick Todd is arraigned at Middlesex County Superior Court, Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, in Woburn, Mass. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via AP)

A grand jury in Massachusetts has indicted a doctor who is accused of sexually assaulting more than 200 former patients over a period of more than a decade.

The patients sued Dr. Derrick Todd, who has been accused of performing unnecessary pelvic floor therapy, breast examinations, testicular examinations and other unwarranted procedures on patients dating back to 2010. The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Thursday that Todd was indicted earlier that day for “two counts of rape alleging the sexual assault of two women.”

Todd pleaded not guilty during an arraignment on Friday. The district attorney’s office said the two alleged assaults took place in December 2022 and June 2023, and that additional investigations into Todd’s conduct are ongoing.

The criminal case against Todd will likely grow, said William Thompson, an attorney with Boston firm Lubin & Meyer, which represents more than 180 of the accusers.

“It’s just the beginning of the criminal case against Dr. Todd, but it does help validate the civil claims that Lubin & Meyer is pursuing on behalf of so many of his former patients,” Thompson said. “Fundamentally, it’s about a doctor abusing his position. And taking advantage of patients who put their trust in him for his own personal sexual gratification.”

Thompson added that the civil case against Todd is currently in the process of discovery. The Associated Press left a telephone message with Anthony Abeln, an attorney who has represented Todd in the civil case, and with Ingrid Martin, a criminal lawyer who has represented Todd.

Todd is a former rheumatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. The lawsuit against him accused several other defendants, including the hospital, of knowing about the abuse and failing to halt it.

Brigham and Women’s received anonymous complaints about Todd in April 2023 and launched its own investigation. The hospital fired him in July. Todd then reached a voluntary agreement with the Board of Registration in Medicine to stop practicing medicine anywhere in the United States.

Todd’s former places of work have distanced themselves from the doctor since the allegations emerged. His accusers range from teenagers to women in their 60s.

Paula Bliss, an attorney for victims and partner with Justice Law Collaborative, a Massachusetts legal advocacy group, said Friday that the indictment was “a resounding moment of validation for the patients he sexually assaulted and the brave survivors who came forward with the truth of this so-called medical professional’s deplorable conduct.”