NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. -- More than a dozen witnesses testified in defense of a prominent pediatrician during the second day of his sex crimes trial in New Kent County Tuesday.
Just about all were former colleagues of Dr. Daniel Davidow, the former medical director at the Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents.
The first witness was Dr. Valerie Mutchler-Fornili, who presented as an expert in family practice and pediatric and adolescent medicine.
She worked as an attending physician at Cumberland from 2001 to 2020. She testified that she would also check the femoral pulse of patients during exams, noting that practice is part of a thorough examination.
On Monday, an expert pediatric witness for the commonwealth said those types of pulse checks would typically not be done past the age of nine months.
Fornili, like the commonwealth’s witness, did testify that she would do a visual check for pubic hair during an examination. The accusers in this case allege Davidow touched their pubic hair and penetrated their vaginas with his fingers
Several current and former Cumberland case managers also testified Tuesday, including two who said they were present as chaperones during the admissions exams of both accusers.
Both told the court they never saw Davidow do anything inappropriate to either alleged victim.
The defense also presented medical records as evidence for one of the accusers which show that the girl herself requested to be given Thorazine, an antipsychotic medication used to treat anxiety and gastrointestinal issues.
This contradicts the testimony of that accuser, who said Monday she had not liked the drug, and that had made her feel “out of it.”
That same accuser alleges that she was either rolled in a wheelchair or accompanied by a staff member as she rolled herself, from her unit to the exam room, where she says she was sexually assaulted by Davidow multiple times while at Cumberland.
However, the defense produced documentation from the hospital that they say counters her story, and only shows one supervised trip to the exam room after her initial intake exam. That second exam room visit apparently took place on October 20, 2017, a day when the defense says Davidow was not at work because he and his wife had taken a trip to New York.
A 35-minute long audio recording was also played during the trial, featuring an interview with Davidow that was conducted by a New Kent social services investigator and a sheriff’s office employee in 2017, in the wake of accusations made by female patients against the doctor.
During that interview, Davidow admits to doing femoral pulse checks, saying they are important because they can help detect blockages impacting the heart and allow him to assess pubertal development due to their proximity to the pubic hair triangle.
Davidow also told investigators that he thought it was ludicrous that a physical exam would be characterized as sexual abuse, and said it had been “rough” for caregivers at Cumberland pertaining to false accusations being made against them by patients.
The judge along with the defense and the commonwealth will tour an examination room at Cumberland Hospital on Wednesday morning before another day of defense testimony.
The defense expects to wrap up its case on Thursday.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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