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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Andrea Cavallier

167 women have accused a Beverly Hills OB-GYN of sexual misconduct. What we know about the claims

Cedars-Sinai has claimed it terminated Dr. Barry Brock’s hospital privileges in July after getting ‘concerning complaints’ from former patients - (Google Maps)

Another 107 women have come forward with allegations that a former Beverly Hills doctor engaged in sexually exploitative and abusive behavior with his patients that resulted in lasting complications.

In the most recent lawsuit obtained by the Los Angeles Times, the new plaintiffs are in addition to the 60 other former patients who accused obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Barry J. Brock of similar allegations in a suit that was filed last year.

Brock, 74, has previously denied any wrongdoing following the lawsuits that also claim Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and other medical practices where he worked, knowingly concealed his alleged sexual abuses and medical misconduct.

Cedars-Sinai has claimed it terminated Brock’s hospital privileges in July after getting “concerning complaints” from former patients. Those privileges were terminated a few months later, the hospital said.

Here’s everything we know about the case:

Who is Dr. Barry Brock?

Dr. Barry Brock has more than 40 years of experience in obstetrics and gynecology and is a well-known figure in the medical community.

He was a member of the Cedars-Sinai physician network until 2018. He retained his clinical privileges there until mid-2024.

Brock also worked at Beverly Hills OB-GYN and Rodeo Drive Women’s Health Center, which are named in the lawsuits.

He retired from medicine in August 2024.

The former doctor said previously that he surrendered his privileges without any “hearing on the merits” of the allegations under investigation.

All the allegations against Brock that dates back ‘decades’

In the latest lawsuit against Brock was filed on December 27 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, a slew of former patients claimed that during exams and procedures he allegedly fondled their clitorises and groped their breasts unnecessarily.

He also conducted the exams without gloves, which the Federation of State Medical Boards lists as an example of sexual impropriety, according to the lawsuit.

Some accused the former doctor of thrusting examination instruments into them while making lewd and inappropriate comments that made them uncomfortable.

One patient claimed that when she told Brock that she was a lesbian, he replied, “Well, I can change that.”

When another patient asked Brock why he wasn’t wearing gloves, he allegedly told her: “Your down there is much dirtier than my hands.”

Some of Brock’s former patients alleged in the new lawsuit that his examinations left them with lasting physical complications, including pain during intercourse due to suturing and lasting pain as a result of post-birth stitches Brock inserted after delivery.

One woman who saw Brock from 2002 to 2012, “would express to the nurses or other doctors that his behavior was rough and rude,” she “would be told, ‘That’s just how he is’ and ‘Don’t put much on it,’” according to the lawsuit.

Others claimed nurses would dismiss their claims about Brock, saying he had a “reputation for making off-colored remarks,” the suit states.

Cedars-Sinai “received numerous complaints regarding [his] sexually exploitative and abusive behavior, dating back several decades,” the lawsuit claims.

However, the suit alleges that “Brock has been allowed to continue injuring, exploiting, and abusing patients under the guise of medical care at Cedars-Sinai from 1979 through August of 2024.”

Cedars-Sinai’s response to allegations

In response, a Cedars-Sinai spokesperson said, “The type of behavior alleged about Dr. Barry Brock is counter to Cedars-Sinai’s core values and the trust we strive to earn every day with our patients.”

“Dr. Brock no longer has privileges to practice medicine at Cedars-Sinai, and we have reported this matter to the California Medical Board,” the spokesperson said.

The lawsuit acknowledged that Brock has retired but alleges that he “has only recently ‘retired’ so that Cedars-Sinai can continue trying to conceal from plaintiffs, and the public at large, that Brock is a known serial predator, who has sexually exploited and abused hundreds, if not thousands, of unsuspecting female patients.”

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