107 more women accuse former Cedars-Sinai physician of sexual misconduct

LOS ANGELES — More than 100 women have filed a new lawsuit against obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Barry J. Brock and the facilities where he worked, claiming that Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and other medical practices knowingly concealed his alleged sexual abuses and medical misconduct.

The 107 new plaintiffs join 60 other former patients who have accused Brock in lawsuits last year of inappropriate and medically unjustifiable behavior that at times resulted in lasting physical complications.

Brock didn't immediately to requests for comment Thursday.

Brock, 74, has previously denied all allegations of impropriety. The longtime OB-GYN was a member of the Cedars-Sinai physician network until 2018 and retained his clinical privileges there until mid-2024.

Cedars-Sinai "received numerous complaints regarding (his) sexually exploitative and abusive behavior, dating back several decades," the lawsuit alleges. Nevertheless, "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," the suit says.

A Cedars-Sinai spokesperson said that "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.

In July, Cedars-Sinai said it suspended Brock's hospital privileges after receiving "concerning complaints" from former patients. His hospital privileges were terminated a few months later.

In the most recent suit, filed Dec. 27 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, former patients accuse Brock of groping their breasts and genitals unnecessarily under the pretense of legitimate medical examinations.

More than a dozen women say in the suit that Brock fondled their clitorises during exams and procedures. Three women alleged that Brock used examination instruments in inappropriate and violating ways, thrusting them in their bodies while at times making lewd comments.

Several said that he conducted vaginal examinations without wearing gloves, which the Federation of State Medical Boards lists as an example of sexual impropriety.

A woman who saw Brock once in 2015 when her regular doctor was unavailable asked why he wasn't wearing gloves, the lawsuit states. Brock allegedly responded: "Your down there is much dirtier than my hands."

Former patients allege in the latest suit that Brock's frequent comments about their bodies or sexual desirability, often made during the middle of sensitive physical examinations, left them deeply uncomfortable. When one patient disclosed during a visit that she was a lesbian, the suit alleges, Brock replied, "Well, I can change that."

Another woman said that she noticed photographs she had taken as a model on an exam room computer during one of her visits. "I was looking at your modeling pictures and take a look at this one. You can see your (vulva) right through the outfit," Brock allegedly told her, using a crude term for female genitalia.

Multiple patients say in the lawsuit that Brock dismissed complaints of pain or medical concerns with sexually inappropriate comments. To a patient who told him that a pap smear was causing her pain, the lawsuit alleges, Brock made a comment about her sexual history and replied that she "should like it."

Others said Brock's care left them with lasting physical complications.

One woman said Brock delivered her baby in 2005 as the on-call doctor at Cedars-Sinai and proceeded to suture her perineal area after birth, a procedure he told her husband would leave the patient "like a virgin." Two decades later, the woman still finds sexual intercourse painful as a result of the suturing, the suit alleges. Four other plaintiffs also reported lasting pain as a result of post-birth stitches Brock inserted after delivery.

Several patients allege in the suit that they reported their discomfort to office staff, nurses or other doctors, and received responses that suggested that his behavior was known to staff.

When one woman who saw Brock from 2002 to 2012 "would express to the nurses or other doctors that his behavior was rough and rude," the lawsuit states, she "would be told, 'That's just how he is' and 'Don't put much on it.'"

Another disclosed to a labor and delivery nurse that Brock had called her a crude name during one of her visits, the suit alleges.

The nurse responded "that she was not surprised, and implied that Brock had a reputation for making off colored remarks," the suit states.

The lawsuit also names Beverly Hills OB-GYN and Rodeo Drive Women's Health Center, where Brock worked after leaving the Cedars-Sinai physician network. Neither responded immediately to requests for comment on Thursday.

At the time Cedars suspended Brock's privileges, a spokesperson for the medical center said that privacy laws prohibited it from confirming the existence of any patient complaints or disciplinary action taken against Brock before 2024.

Brock, who retired from medicine in August, said previously that he surrendered his privileges without any "hearing on the merits" of the allegations under investigation.

The plaintiffs who have brought suit against Brock so far are represented by a legal team that includes Anthony T. DiPietro, who has also represented patients of convicted sex offender and former Columbia University gynecologist Robert Hadden, and Mike Arias, who like DiPietro has represented patients of former University of Southern California gynecologist George Tyndall.

Brock, they allege, "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."