Identifying A Child Molester
My sister was molested by our mother's cousin. He is a physician. She would like to notify his staff so that they can prevent him from possibly harming any of his patients. Can she identify him without legal repercussions? His practise is in Washington D.C. Thank you.
Re: Identifying A Child Molester
From a practical viewpoint, it's typically not the position of staff members to oversee the actions of their employer. Exactly what steps do you think his staff can take? (And those that might even consider trying...well, that's when staff tends to get "let go", yanno.) Keep in mind too that depending on the state, the type of practice, the type of staff members, and other factors, there's a chance that his employees may be mandated reporters and that once informed, they might be obligated to report such a thing to authorities anyway (a lot of maybe's, but you didn't give us many details to go on). On the other side of the coin, these are people who rely on him for their living - so don't put all your faith in their willingness to believe you, or to act on allegations, even if they do.
Assuming that the rest of the world, like neighbors, family members, and total strangers (and not JUST this doc's patients) should be protected, that's a job for people like police, prosecutors, courts, and the corrections system. I realize that the proposed course of action of notifying his staff is massively LESS traumatic than having your sister file a police report and "go public" about what happened, but once that accusation is made, it's going to get out of the bag - and unless you expect this doc to just shut his doors and quietly retire, your sister is likely to end up in the center of the action one way or the other (either as a key witness in a criminal investigation and possible criminal trial, or as a defendant in a civil case). The bottom line is: any type of identification is going to have repercussions, for BOTH sides.
She can either point the finger and wait to see what HE (and his lawyers) does about it ...or....she can go via the authorities and let THEM point the finger IF they find they can make a case (depending on how long ago this happened)...or....she can retain an attorney of her own and possibly bring a civil case against him. Several of these possibilities could also result in investigation by his state's Board of Medicine and could conceivably result in revocation of his license to practice. But there are a LOT of IF's here.