Editor’s Note: The video above originally aired on Oct. 19, 2019.
NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – Over 60 people have used a soon-expiring New York City law to allege they were sexually abused as children by Dr. Reginald Archibald, adding to a mountain of accusations against the late doctor.
Six lawsuits were filed in New York City in February using a 2022 New York City amendment to the Gender-Motivated Violence Act that briefly lifted the nine-year filing window for cases involving sexual violence, domestic violence, human trafficking and more.
The two-year “lookback window” that removed time restrictions on these cases ends Friday. It has already made other high-profile cases possible, including multiple cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, according to the New York Times.
A similar state law, the New York Adult Survivors Act, allowed victims over 18 to file claims without time constraints until November 2023, spawning other high-profile cases, including accusations against Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In 2023, at least one case was filed using the state law naming Archibald, a former Rockefeller University Hospital endocrinologist, and the Boys & Girls Club of America. At the New York City Boys & Girls Club location, Archibald was known as the "pool doctor," according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
In that case, 20 former Madison Square Boys Club members claim Archibald was sexually inappropriate with “all or almost all of his child patients.”
“Sadly, the abuse for many boys was indeed ‘life-changing,’ inflicting deep-seated wounds and suffering,” the attorneys wrote.
In another lawsuit filed Feb. 5, five people alleged Archibald’s victims could be in the thousands, calling the doctor one of the “most prolific” abusers in the world.
As Archibald’s employer, The Rockefeller University is named in all of the lawsuits filed in February. According to a 2018 NPR report, the hospital said it had alerted authorities to allegations of inappropriate conduct by the doctor, which they were made aware of in 2004.
The Rockefeller University Hospital did not respond to PIX11 News’ requests for comment.
In a statement to PIX11 News, the Boys & Girls Club said it takes kids’ safety very seriously.
“We fully recognize that although these alleged incidents occurred many years ago, time does not erase any pain experienced by survivors and their families and we remain both shocked and deeply concerned by this extremely serious matter,” a spokesperson for the organization said. “Crimes of abuse run counter to everything our mission stands for – no harm should come to any child under any circumstance.”
Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter who has covered New York City since 2023 after reporting in Los Angeles for years. She joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter here.
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