Jury awards $300 million to women who alleged sex abuse by doctor at a Virginia children’s hospital

RICHMOND, Va. — A jury has ruled in favor of three women who alleged they were sexually abused while in a Virginia children’s hospital, awarding them a total of $300 million in damages.

The jury in Richmond Circuit Court on Friday awarded each woman $60 million in compensatory damages and $40 million in punitive damages, WTVR-TV reported.

A total of 46 former patients have filed a lawsuit against Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents in New Kent, which treats vulnerable children, and against Dr. Daniel Davidow, the hospital’s longtime medical director. In this first trial, the three former patients alleged that Davidow touched them inappropriately during femoral pulse examinations.

“To have a group of people – a group of strangers – looking at them, listening to them, telling them that they believe them, that they believe in them, that devastated them, immediately made them burst into tears,” said Kevin Biniazan, the women’s advocate. “It brought us all to tears.”

Davidow’s attorney, Bob Donnelly, told the jury opening statements that Davidow “unequivocally denies” the allegations of sexual abuse. Donnelly said the femoral pulse examination, performed by Davidow, dates back to the 1960s and 1970s and is a “standard examination.”

Davidow was acquitted of sexual abuse charges against two other former patients following a criminal trial in April.

The next civil trial is scheduled for March.