Weill Cornell Medicine reaches $1 B settlement over Paduch abuse

Weill Cornell Medicine has entered a voluntary compliance agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, agreeing to pay more than $1 billion to settle civil claims stemming from the sexual abuse of patients by former urologist Darius Paduch. The settlement includes a commitment to pay $10 million per year for three years to upgrade its internal patient‑safety system and share the improvements with other health providers. Federal investigators concluded that the medical school’s policies and oversight failed to detect, prevent, and respond to repeated allegations of abuse between 2009 and 2019.

Paduch, a Polish‑born urologist, was convicted in May 2024 of multiple counts of sexual assault, including against six minors as young as 13, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2024. The agreement resolves the criminal investigation into Weill Cornell’s handling of the complaints and formalizes the Justice Department’s decision not to pursue criminal charges against the institution. Weill Cornell said the resolution marks a step forward in making the organization safer.