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Sex Abuse Complaint Against Reardon 40 Years Old

Almost 20 years before what was believed to be the first child molestation complaint against Dr. George Reardon, a mother accused the prominent St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center doctor of abusing her son, court records show.

The nearly 40-year-old complaint was among a huge cache of child pornography discovered hidden in Reardon's former home last year. But the document's existence was kept quiet until lawyers suing St. Francis for negligence recently asked a judge to order its release.

The court papers filed in connection with the lawsuits, which have been consolidated at Superior Court in Waterbury, do not precisely say to whom the mother's complaint was delivered. But it's clear the matter was handled by Dr. Joseph S. Sadowski, an official of the Hartford County Medical Association—who also practiced medicine at St. Francis.

The existence of the complaint raises startling new questions about why Reardon was allowed to continue practicing medicine through the 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s —all the while allegedly preying on scores of children. Until the disclosure of the April 1970 document, the first known abuse complaints were lodged with state regulators against Reardon in 1987.

Barry Feldman, general counsel at St. Francis, has said that although an internal investigation is underway, to the best of his knowledge the hospital did not learn anything about the specific nature of the allegations against Reardon until 1993, when the health department moved in public proceedings to revoke his medical license.

Since last year's discovery of the photographs on Griswold Drive in West Hartford, about 100 people have sued St. Francis, claiming the hospital was negligent in not preventing the abuse. Many of the alleged victims say Reardon abused them and photographed them in degrading poses at his office at St. Francis; Reardon, they say, told their parents they were participating in growth studies.

The 1970 complaint, a sworn affidavit, alleges that the boy participated in one of those ostensible studies, court papers say. In addition to that complaint, the lawyers asked for a memorandum written by Sadowski, a letter from Sadowski to the woman's lawyer, a letter from Sadowski to Reardon and Reardon's rebuttal. All the documents have been turned over to plaintiffs' attorneys under the terms of a confidentiality agreement.

An unrelated document referenced in the court papers is a 1976 handwritten response by Reardon to "allegations of sexual abuse that were made against Dr. Reardon by the parents of another child."

Asked about the documents Tuesday, officials at St. Francis said anything Sadowski may have learned was in his role as an official with the county medical association, not as a physician affiliated with the hospital. Sadowski was a prominent neurosurgeon who had privileges at St. Francis and died in 2001.

"Dr. Sadowski was a private physician who was not employed by St. Francis," said Tina Varona, a hospital spokeswoman, in a prepared statement. "Dr. Sadowski was chairman—Committee on Medical Ethics and Department of the Hartford County Medical Association."

"Any information about Dr. Reardon that Dr. Sadowski may have learned in that capacity cannot and should not be attributed to St. Francis," the statement continued.

But Paul Edwards, a lawyer with the Stratton Faxon law firm in New Haven, and Susan Smith, a lawyer with Smith and Moore in Avon, both took issue with the hospital's statement. Their firms represent most of the people suing the hospital.

"Dr. Sadowski was ... an influential member of the St. Francis community," Smith said. "If he had information that Dr. Reardon was using his office and position at the hospital to abuse children, he had the moral and legal duty to disclose that information to the hospital to prevent further harm."

In 1970, when the mother lodged her complaint, the mechanism for dealing with allegations against physicians was markedly different from what it is today. Until the early 1980s, complaints against doctors were generally handled quietly by local medical societies—essentially trade groups of doctors formed to advance their professional interests.

Even when the medical society disciplined doctors, their names were kept secret—even from the hospitals where they worked, according to a retired Hartford physician who was involved with disciplining doctors, though not at the time of the Reardon case. The court papers do not indicate whether officials at St. Francis became aware of the mother's complaint at the time.

Before the state law was changed, patients who felt harmed by their doctors were advised to write a letter of complaint to their local medical society. Each county had a society and the Hartford County Medical Association was known as the most active in the state.

At the Hartford association, complaints were referred to a subcommittee of doctors called the ethics and deportment committee, according to a former committee member who asked that his name not be published. The next step in the process was for the doctors to respond to the allegations in writing.

Members of the ethics and deportment committee would then consider the written complaint and the doctor's response to determine if any intervention was necessary.

Most of the cases involved doctors who abused drugs or alcohol, and problem doctors were commonly referred for treatment without any record of an indiscretion. The former committee member said his group never informed the hospitals when complaints were made against their staff physicians.

Sadowski became president of the Hartford County Medical Association in 1973. He was chairman of the ethics and deportment committee in 1970 when the Reardon complaint was filed, according to St. Francis.

He was a contemporary of Reardon's, who was chief of endocrinology at St. Francis and practiced medicine there from 1963 to 1993, when he resigned in the face of allegations that he had molested young patients for decades, starting in the 1950s. Both Reardon and Sadowski were doctors in the Navy before starting their medical practices in Hartford at about the same time.

In 1979, the state's rules for disciplining doctors began to change when a government reorganization put the state health department in charge of investigating complaints.

The laws were tweaked over the years. While the county medical association still exists in name, its role today is markedly different. Officials there have said the Reardon case was too old for them to know anything about it or discuss it.

Now, state health department investigators look into complaints. If they are deemed legitimate, the department attempts to reach settlements with the accused doctors that can include probation, license suspension, or monitoring. The department can also file charges which are then heard by the Connecticut Medical Examining Board.

Until the disclosure of the 1970 complaint, the first known allegations against Reardon were filed with the state Department of Public Health in 1987 and 1989.

After investigating a fourth complaint against Reardon in 1993, the state health department staff asked the state Medical Examining Board to revoke Reardon's license. Reardon died in 1998.