Sex abuse allegations widen against former Children's Hospital doctor

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By David Abel and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A former Children's Hospital Boston pediatrician and best-selling author is facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly abusing and improperly treating children who were patients, a Boston attorney said today.

Dr. Melvin D. Levine

The suit, filed by attorney Carmen Durso, alleges that Dr. Melvin D. Levine committed medical malpractice and sexual abuse and the hospital was negligent in failing to properly supervise him in more than 40 cases over 20 years. According to the lawsuit, those plaintiffs have alleged that Levine performed genital examinations on them that were not medically indicated.

The suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, also said it sought to represent the entire group of children examined by Levine during the period 1966 through 1985, estimating that he treated approximately 5,000 boys during that period.

The suit also alleges that the hospital "knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that defendant Levine was not a fit person to be placed in charge of the treatment of minor male pediatric patients, or to be allowed to provide unsupervised care."

Children’s Hospital issued a statement, saying it was "a national leader in child protection and we are committed to protecting all children, including those treated at the hospital. Children’s would not, and did not, cover up any inappropriate conduct relating to Dr. Levine."

The hospital said Levine hadn't practiced there for 25 years and the allegations went back further than that. It also said it never received a complaint while he was there. One complaint after he left was investigated, his actions were found appropriate, and a court dismissed the claims, the hospital said.

"The fact of the matter is that except for the one complaint we investigated, no one alerted the hospital to any concerns regarding Dr. Levine. The hospital supervised Dr. Levine’s practice in accordance with the applicable standards of the time," the hospital said. At the same time, the statement said, "If the allegations of these former patients are true, we are devastated and our most heartfelt sympathies go out to the victims of Dr. Levine’s wrongdoing."

In March 2009, Levine signed an agreement with the medical board in North Carolina, where he now lives, saying that he would never practice medicine again, the Globe reported. The agreement came after allegations were brought that he had performed improper genital examinations on boys there. A lawsuit filed by Durso in 2008 in Superior Court accused Levine of abusing at least seven boys who came to him for treatment.

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