A Suffolk County grand jury has indicted Massachusetts physician Dr. Derrick Todd on 81 new criminal charges, including 21 counts of rape, after prosecutors alleged he used his position at two Boston-area hospitals to subject patients to unnecessary and invasive exams over a six-year span.
The indictment, handed up in Suffolk County, layers onto a separate criminal case already pending against Todd in Middlesex County, where he previously pleaded not guilty to 22 counts of rape and indecent assault and battery. Taken together, the two cases paint a picture of alleged serial abuse carried out under the cover of routine medical care.
The 81-count Suffolk County indictment breaks down to 21 counts of rape, 59 counts of indecent assault and battery, and one count of assault with intent to rape, Fox News reported. Prosecutors said the alleged conduct occurred between 2017 and 2023.
Todd, a rheumatologist and general practitioner, allegedly performed unnecessary breast and pelvic exams on 22 patients while working at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital. The alleged victims range in age from 17 to 56.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden called the scope of the case unlike anything his office has seen. He described the indictment in stark terms.
"This is an extraordinary set of indictments, not just for the sheer volume of charges and number of women assaulted, but for the fact that all these women were violated by... a medical professional, the one person they entrusted to help them in their time of need."
Hayden went further in a separate statement, underscoring what he characterized as the unprecedented nature of the allegations.
"The scale of victimization and the magnitude of trauma left in the wake of these allegations is something we have never encountered."
The Suffolk County indictment does not replace the earlier Middlesex County prosecution. That case, in which Todd pleaded not guilty, involves 22 counts of rape and indecent assault and battery, the New York Post reported. The two cases proceed on parallel tracks in separate jurisdictions.
That dual-jurisdiction posture matters. It means Todd faces distinct grand jury findings in two counties, each built on its own set of alleged victims and alleged conduct. Even if one case were to stall or narrow, the other would continue independently.
Criminal cases against physicians are relatively rare, but when they do arise, the charges tend to carry exceptional weight with juries because of the trust patients place in doctors. A recent manslaughter indictment against a Florida surgeon accused of removing a patient's liver instead of a spleen illustrated how prosecutors are increasingly willing to bring serious felony charges against medical professionals whose conduct allegedly crosses the line from negligence into criminal territory.
Prosecutors described a years-long pattern in which Todd allegedly exploited the clinical setting to carry out assaults disguised as medical examinations. The breast and pelvic exams at the center of the case were, in the prosecution's telling, medically unnecessary and performed without legitimate clinical justification.
The alleged victim pool spans nearly four decades of age, from a 17-year-old minor to women in their mid-fifties. That breadth suggests, at least in the prosecution's theory, that the alleged conduct was not opportunistic but systematic.
Investigators have not publicly detailed how the alleged abuse first came to light or what role, if any, the hospitals played in reporting Todd's conduct. Authorities have also not publicly confirmed whether Brigham and Women's Hospital or Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital conducted internal reviews or took administrative action against Todd before or after the criminal investigation began.
Grand jury proceedings, by design, are one-sided. The prosecution presents evidence and witnesses; the defense does not participate. An indictment reflects a grand jury's finding of probable cause, not a determination of guilt. Understanding how grand jury procedures shape the early stages of criminal cases is essential context for anyone following a prosecution this large.
Eighty-one charges in a single indictment is unusual by any measure. Combined with the 22 counts in Middlesex County, Todd now faces more than 100 criminal charges across two jurisdictions. Hayden's own language, calling the case something his office has "never encountered," signals how seriously prosecutors view the scope.
Cases involving allegations against public figures or professionals in positions of authority often draw intense scrutiny, both for the gravity of the accusations and for the institutional failures they may expose. Readers who followed the fraud charges against a sitting Florida congresswoman know that formal indictments against people in trusted roles carry a particular public weight, regardless of the eventual outcome.
Todd has pleaded not guilty in the Middlesex County case. His plea and legal posture in the new Suffolk County case have not been publicly reported. Investigators will need to determine whether additional alleged victims exist beyond those already identified across the two indictments.
Todd faces arraignment on the Suffolk County charges, though a date has not been publicly announced. The Middlesex County case will continue on its own procedural timeline. Defense counsel's strategy in managing two simultaneous prosecutions in separate counties will be a critical factor going forward.
Prosecutors will need to establish that the exams at issue lacked medical necessity, a question that will likely require expert testimony. The sheer number of alleged victims could strengthen the prosecution's pattern-of-conduct argument, but it also creates logistical complexity. Coordinating testimony and evidence across 22 alleged victims in Suffolk County alone is a significant undertaking.
The hospitals where Todd practiced have not been charged. Whether they face civil liability or regulatory scrutiny remains an open question. In cases involving criminal allegations tied to medical institutions, the question of institutional accountability often follows the individual prosecution.
Todd is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. But the volume of charges, the number of alleged victims, and the years-long timeframe described by prosecutors make this one of the largest physician sexual assault cases in Massachusetts history, at least by the numbers.
When a doctor allegedly turns the exam room into a crime scene, the justice system owes those patients more than process. It owes them answers about how it went on for so long.
