NEW YORK — In a deal that ends a criminal investigation, a prestigious New York City medical institution agreed to boost its sexual abuse prevention program after one of its star doctors was convicted of abusing patients during a decade-long span and was sentenced to life behind bars, authorities said Monday.
Weill Cornell Medicine, whose faculty treats patients at several New York-area hospitals, reached a voluntary compliance agreement with the federal government that calls for it to spend $30 million to create the Institute for Safe Patient Care and Patient Empowerment.
Weill Cornell Medicine had previously agreed to pay victims over $1 billion to settle civil claims.
The deal comes after Darius Paduch, 59, was sentenced in 2024 to life in prison for sexually abusing patients from at least 2009 to 2019, including boys as young as 13. His victims, authorities said, suffered from certain genetic conditions, along with sexual and erectile dysfunction.
The doctor had claimed some of his methods of touching patients were medically necessary, though the indictment said they were intended for his own sexual gratification. The sentencing judge said his crimes were so horrific that it was the first time she’d ever sentenced someone to life in prison when it was not required.
In a statement, Weill Cornell Medicine called the institute “the first-of-its-kind” for the early identification and prevention of sexual misconduct.
“This resolution is a significant step forward for us in addressing our former faculty member’s misconduct. Today, Weill Cornell Medicine is a safer organization,” it said. “Under new executive leadership, we have enacted significant reforms in patient safety and reporting protocols to ensure we provide the very best care to all those who place their trust in us.”
It added: “There is no place in our community – or in any medical institution – for the type of misconduct that occurred.”
In a release, Criminal Division Chief Amanda Houle from the Southern District of New York prosecutor’s office said Weill Cornell Medicine under the agreement will maintain an industry-leading sexual-abuse prevention program and will self-report future federal crimes involving sexual misconduct.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said the agreement sends a “strong, clear message to all healthcare institutions” that patients should never be sexually abused and that they must devote the necessary resources to build and maintain programs that detect, report and prevent sexual abuse.
Prosecutors said in the release that they determined Weill Cornell Medicine had policies and programs insufficient to detect, prevent and respond to Paduch’s widespread sexual abuse of patients.
The investigation, according to the release, determined that Paduch sexually abused many of his patients during his decade with the institution.
Weill Cornell Medicine, as part of its agreement, acknowledged that its policies and programs were insufficient and had failed to detect and adequately respond to Paduch’s behavior, prosecutors said.
