NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. -- Two former Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents patients will have their day in court next April in the criminal case against the New Kent County facility's former medical director.
Dr. Daniel Davidow appeared before a judge Monday in a motion hearing. It was his first time in court since he was arrested for sex crimes last year.
Davidow was indicted by a grand jury on November 21, 2022, according to court records. He was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual battery of someone who is incapacitated, and two counts of object sexual penetration by force.
Monday a New Kent County judge set a bench trial for April 22, 2024-April 26, 2024. Attorneys said they expect 30-35 witnesses to testify in the five-day trial.
According to the indictment, Davidow sexually abused a patient with the initials K.J. from October 16, 2017, until December 1, 2017.
Laura French traveled to Florida to interview K.J in October 2020. K.J. also reported being drugged by Davidow.
Davidow is also accused of abusing a patient with the initials R.H. from March 1, 2018, until April 30, 2018. She spoke to CBS 6 in February 2021.
In both cases, investigators allege Davidow committed abuse “through the victim’s mental incapacity or physical helplessness.”
Davidow served as Cumberland’s medical director for more than 20 years but was terminated in February 2020, shortly after a CBS 6 investigative report detailing some of the accusations against him.
In the last few years, 46 former Cumberland patients have filed lawsuits against the hospital and its owner, Universal Health Services (UHS), seeking more than $387 million.
Of those patients, 35 accuse Davidow of sexual misconduct.
The law firm Breit Biniazan is representing the plaintiffs, including K.J. and R.H.
While the indictments do not contain details concerning the alleged assaults, both accusers claimed they were first abused upon admissions, and said it began with an invasive physical exam. Other former patients involved in the litigation have made similar claims.
"For female patients, Defendant Davidow fraudulently stated he needed to check the minor patient's femoral pulse to coerce the minor patient's compliance with his demands," one lawsuit stated. "Defendant Davidow would place his hand beneath the minor patient's undergarments and sexually abuse the minor patient by intentionally touching the minor patient's intimate body parts.”
Davidow is the third Cumberland employee to be indicted.
Psychotherapist Herschel “Mickey” Harden died by suicide in February 2021, the day prosecutors said he was to plead guilty to a sex crime against a former patient. R.H. was also the alleged victim in that case.
Later that year, a behavior technician named Stacey Burrell was convicted of burning a non-verbal patient with hot water.
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