Dr. Larry Nassar was sued by 18 former patients Tuesday for sexual assault during medical exams, and named USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University and another gymnastics facility as negligent for doing nothing when complaints were lodged against him. Photo by
WSYM-TV
LANSING, Mich., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A doctor who already faces charges for sexual assault and child pornography, and has three other sexual assault lawsuits against him, was hit by another suit by 18 former patients on Tuesday.
Former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar was sued by 18 girls and women alleging he assaulted them during exams, and accuse USA Gymnastics, MSU and the Twistars USA gymnastics facility of allowing him to do so for years by not firing him after complaints were filed against him.
Nassar has been in jail since November awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing a former Michigan State gymnast and more than 60 women have accused him of assaulting them for years.
The FBI also found hard drives in a garbage can at his house in December with his name on them that contained more than 37,000 images and videos of child pornography and a Go Pro camera with footage of Nassar molesting girls in a pool.
"I was very confident that my voice would not be heard," Rachael Denhollander, one of the 18 women who filed suit and the only one who did not remain anonymous, told NBC News.
Denhollander said she was abused during five visits to Nassar, saying she wasn't initially sure she'd been abused during invasive medical treatments because he works with elite gymnasts.
The suit alleges MSU looked into a complaint filed in 2014, but ignored those filed with the university in 1997, 1999 and 2000. In 2014, the university investigated a complain but found no violations occurred. A police report was also filed in 2004 about an incident however the university ignored it as well.
Nassar's attorneys said in September that medical techniques with included vaginal penetration were appropriate for his patients.
Nassar faces three other lawsuits for sexual assaults and a judge ordered he remain in jail because he poses a danger to the community.
