RICHMOND, Va. – Both sides have rested in the trial against the Cumberland Hospital and its former medical director.
Forty-six former patients are suing the New Kent facility and Dr. Daniel Davidow for $930 million. Each plaintiff is asking for $20 million plus damages.
The three former patients in this first trial, claim Davidow inappropriately touched them during femoral pulse exams.
The plaintiffs called former Cumberland director of case management Debbie Spinazolla to the stand as they presented evidence for their rebuttal.
Attorney Kevin Biniazan explained to the jury that they would be inquiring about "question number 13" on Davidow’s interrogatories which was signed on February 5, 2021.
Interrogatories are written questions that are answered under oath to obtain information in a case.
Biniazan said that Davidow answered that he visually scaled tanner staging, which is a puberty assessment, for males and females and that he did not know how many he had done.
Davidow said that he did not use physical touch.
Biniazan asked Spinazolla if Davidow instructed girls on how to conduct breast exams.
She said she did not recall but Biniazan reminded her that she had testified, “No.”
In cross-examination, she was asked what her next answer was and she responded, “Not that I remember.”
Norfolk child abuse expert Dr. Suzanne Starling testified for the plaintiffs that after reviewing the evidence in the Cumberland cases for HB, AE, and EC she determined that “child sexual abuse” had occurred. Those are the three plaintiffs accusing Davidow of inappropriately touching them as patients at the hospital.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Lee Floyd asked Starling if the term “attractive,” when used in a medical record has any medical significance. She said it raises a “red flag” for her.
Starling said, with words like “attractive” in medical records she’s “immediately concerned something else is going on.”
On redirect, Floyd asked Starling how many records she’s reviewed in her career and she said thousands and then she asked of those thousands had she ever seen the word “attractive” in medical notes and she said she never had.
In cross-examination, Davidow’s attorney Bob Donnelly asked Starling, “You can’t remember the last time you took a femoral pulse on a patient, correct? She responded. “That is correct.”
Starling also agreed with Donnelly that if Davidow performed the exams on patients the way he demonstrated on the mannequin in court then it was the proper way of doing it.
The jury will get their instructions Thursday morning followed by closing arguments and deliberations.
Davidow was found not guilty of felony sex abuse charges involving two other former Cumberland patients in New Kent County back in April 2024.
CBS 6 investigative reporter Laura French has been covering this case for the last five years. She’s in the courtroom. For live updates follow her on X @lfrenchnews.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
