Former pediatrician ordered to pay $22 million for sex abuse

The judgment is the first against Stuart Copperman. More than 100 similar lawsuits are pending.

A Long Island judge has ordered former pediatrician Stuart Copperman to pay $22 million in compensatory damages and punitive to a 42-year-old woman. who claimed he sexually abused her from when she was little until she was 18.

The ruling was the first ever against Mr. Copperman, who has a been accused of abusing numerous patients for decades. More than 100 other civil lawsuits against him by former patients are pending.

Mr. Copperman has not mounted a defense in this case and has no attorney of record. He did not respond to requests for comment.

The plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe A.R. I filed a lawsuit under the New York State Child Victims Program, which gives adult victims of child sexual abuse the right to sue their abusers until their 55th birthday. Prosecutors can file criminal charges on behalf of victims up to their 28th birthday.

In addition, the law provided a one-year delay after its enactment that allows people to file a complaint. civil suit at any age, regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred.

Many lawyers are reluctant to take such cases against individuals because the probability of being able to recover damages is small. Jane Doe A.R. I was represented by attorneys Michael Della, of Long Island, and Kristen Gibbons Feden, who sued Bill Cosby and now work at a firm in Philadelphia.

In the ruling released late last week, Nassau County Judge Leonard D. Steinman said the years of abuse had caused the woman to develop serious and lasting psychological disorders and to suffer from distress. emotional, anxiety and depression that persists to this day.

“The plaintiff was unable to participate in a normal, healthy romantic relationship – she did not has never dated – and although the plaintiff is a highly educated and intelligent woman, she cannot maintain continuous employment” and receives disability benefits, the judge wrote.

"Copperman's abuse deprived plaintiff of a normal, healthy and happy life," the judge wrote in his decision. “The psychological scars resulting from abuse are permanent. »

Jane Doe A.R. I didn't speak until I was five and developed dissociative identity disorder as a result of the trauma, said Ms. Gibbons Feden.

“What it really is It is important to emphasize that sexual trauma does not disappear all at once,” said Ms. Gibbons Feden in an interview. "It has a lifelong impact on a person."

For decades, Mr. Copperman had a thriving pediatric practice in Merrick, New York. He had an excellent reputation as a doctor who made house calls and responded to medical emergencies. He was wanted as an expert speaker.

Mr. Copperman often saw young patients alone in the examination room, asking the accompanying parents to wait at the reception, under the guise of giving the girls a chance to speak freely.

His status in the community was such that when children and teenagers complained of abuse, many parents simply did not believe them.

Those responsible could have acted much sooner: Two young women testified before a medical disciplinary committee in 1985 about their abuse, but the committee members – dominated by doctors – did not believe them.

Nassau County prosecutors , where Mr. Copperman had been president of the local pediatric society, did not file criminal charges.

According to the judgment issued last week, Mr. Copperman assaulted Jane Doe A.R. Every exam I digitally penetrate...