Paediatric urologist Bryan Sack accused of photographing patients during procedures amid 1,291 abuse images
An Ohio paediatric urologist faces a lawsuit alleging he photographed children's genitals during medical procedures. FBI investigators found 1,291 child sex abuse files in his Dropbox account.
Ohio children's urologist accused of photographing patients during procedures alongside 1,291 abuse images
A lawsuit filed in a US federal court alleges that Bryan Sack, a 42-year-old former paediatric urologist, stored photographs of his patients' genitals — taken during medical procedures — in the same cloud storage account as more than 1,200 child sexual abuse images. People.com reports that the complaint, filed on 4 November in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, cites FBI findings from earlier this year.
Sack was arrested in February on charges of possession of child sexual abuse material, among other offences, while working as a paediatric urologist at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Toledo, Ohio. At the time, the hospital stated that the criminal charges were "not related to his clinical work." The parents of 13 of his former patients are now directly challenging that assertion.
Dropbox account contained surgical images alongside downloaded abuse material
Investigators examining Sack's personal Dropbox account found more than 27,000 files related to children. Within that account, the lawsuit alleges, were 1,291 files of child pornography alongside "numerous images of surgical procedures, including images/videos of similar procedures/paediatric ailments, depicting close-up images of children's genitals."
The criminal charges against Sack centre on files he allegedly downloaded from the internet. However, the civil complaint argues that authorities uncovered a substantially broader collection of material in his personal cloud storage, including images that appear to have originated within a clinical setting.
Infants and toddlers named among alleged victims
The 13 former patients named in the suit include "many of them infants and toddlers," the filing states. Several parents claim they observed or believed Sack used his own mobile phone to photograph their children during examinations. In one specific instance described in the complaint, Sack allegedly photographed an infant's "exposed genitals" with his personal phone during a genital examination.
In another case, a patient examined by Sack alone subsequently displayed "a marked, uncharacteristic behavioural change involving privacy and physical boundaries with other children," according to the complaint. The filing also notes that several patients were "taken away from their parents, alone with Sack, undressed or under anaesthesia."
Hospitals named for alleged failure to supervise
The lawsuit does not target Sack alone. It also names Nationwide Children's Hospital – Toledo, Nationwide Children's Hospital, and Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, alleging they provided Sack access to vulnerable patients "without the safeguards that would have protected those children."
Claims against the hospitals include invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and multiple counts of negligence. A fraudulent concealment claim has been filed specifically against Nationwide Children's Hospital.
David Champine, an attorney with Flood Law representing some of the plaintiffs, told ABC affiliate WXYZ: "No one who hears this has to take a large logical leap to ask the question: Well, if he's a paediatric urologist taking these intimate photos of his patients for medical purposes, why on earth would he be storing them in his cloud storage account alongside all this child sexually abusive material he's found and downloaded from the internet?"
Hospital says Sack terminated immediately after arrest
In a statement shared with People.com, a Nationwide Children's Hospital spokesperson said: "The safety, well-being and privacy of our patients are our top priority, and we have been told by multiple law enforcement agencies that the criminal charges against Dr. Sack were not related to his clinical activity."
The spokesperson added that Sack "was immediately terminated after Nationwide Children's learned of his arrest earlier this year and is no longer affiliated with Nationwide Children's Hospital in any capacity."
People.com reports it reached out to Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center and to Sack's attorney but had not received a response as of Saturday, 7 November.
Lawsuit seeks counselling and destruction of all patient images
The stated aim of the lawsuit extends beyond financial compensation. The filing calls for the hospitals to notify every patient Sack ever treated, to hand over all patient images in his possession, and to arrange for the destruction of those images. The complaint also seeks counselling and therapy for each of the 13 named former patients.
Attorneys Parker Stinar and Patrick Lannen, representing several of Sack's former clients, said in a statement: "Families trust children's hospitals to protect their kids. We are investigating the full scope of Dr. Sack's alleged conduct and will hold Nationwide Children's and Mercy Health – St. Vincent accountable for failing to protect their patients."
The filing describes its broader purpose as seeking to "hold the hospitals accountable for failing to supervise him, to chaperone his encounters with undressed and anaesthetised children, and to enforce their own prohibition on clinical images leaving their systems."
Source: The Sun