Pediatrician Child Abuse Settlement Results in $123M for Nearly 900 Victims

About $123 million will be divided among roughly 900 child abuse victims, who were assaulted by a Delaware pediatrician for years. 

A class action lawsuit against the employers of Earl B Bradley has resulted in a settlement that will allow compensation to be collected by victims, will keep the medical center where he worked from having to declare bankruptcy, and will avoid children having to testify about horrific abuses they suffered at the pediatrician’s hands.

Bradley was arrested in December 2009 for sexually assaulting hundreds of children over a 10 year period at his pediatrician’s office. He conducted the attacks at BayBees Pediatrics in Lewes, Delaware.

Reports indicated that Bradley’s sexual attacks were so vicious that at least five female victims passed out during the assaults, with experts across the country indicating that they were unable to recall a case where one child sexual predator had so many victims.

In some cases, the alleged victims were only months old, and some children were raped on multiple occasions as parents and guardians brought them back to Bradley for medical care. All but one of the child abuse victims were girls. Bradley often videotaped the rapes with an elaborate hidden camera system.

A child abuse class action lawsuit was filed against Beebe Medical Center, the Medical Society of Delaware and other defendants, as Bradley had no assets or insurance to cover the claims and is currently serving 14 consecutive life sentences, plus 164 years in prison. The complaints alleged that the employers failed to monitor what was happening or respond to complaints of abuse.

The medical center indicates that it agreed to the settlement to aid the victims and to avoid bankruptcy, anticipating it would have suffered much larger financial losses had it attempted to fight the claims in court.

The settlement money will be divided up among the children based on severity of assault and other factors. The settlement protects Beebe Medical Center from future lawsuits involving Bradley’s crimes.