Cumberland Hospital in New Kent County, Virginia, and its former medical director, Dr. Daniel Davidow, are facing a $147 million lawsuit over allegations that minor patients at the facility were abused both physically and sexually while under Davidow’s care.
Nine former patients of the hospital are listed as plaintiffs in the case. A male patient alleges that he was “strangled and choked out by a behavioral technician” at the facility. Eight female patients who were formerly under Davidow’s direct care have also come forward and alleged that the doctor sexually assaulted them under the guise of a routine medical exam. The allegations go as far back as 2009.
If proven true, the allegations against Davidow reveal that a man trusted with the health and well-being of children was nothing short of a monster. Using an un-gloved hand, the doctor is alleged to have routinely assaulted private areas of young girls in private exam rooms. According to the complaint, when one patient hesitated, “Davidow fraudulently stated that he needed to check the minor patient’s femoral pulse to coerce the minor patient’s compliance with his demands.”
According to one pediatric doctor interviewed for the WTVR news story exposing Davidow, “the last time I would check a femoral pulse is probably around six months of age.” The doctor explained that “in pediatrics, it’s important to assess a baby’s femoral pulse as a critical way to pick up on congenital heart disease, especially in the newborn period.”
The eight former patients in this case are far from the only ones alleging misconduct by Davidow. 38 patients have filed suit against the disgraced doctor since October of 2020 over his alleged sexual misconduct and he had been on state officials’ radar prior to the suit being filed and subsequent media investigation.
To date, Davidow has not faced criminal charges in the matter.
