Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Ayres and Children's Hospital in Boston: Did He Work There, Too?

[ORIGINAL POST DATE: 8/27/09 8:16 AM - Moved for visibility and continuity]

Today we have in front of us a bunch of listings of Ayres' employment history from various medical directories and American Medical Association listings. Maybe we're just slow, but we have to admit we're a tad confused by what we're reading. There are so many different variations of his work history as well as a couple of mystifying omissions and inclusions.

All of us who follow this blog know by now that Ayres did his child psychiatry residency at Judge Baker Guidance Center in Boston, from 1959-61. From 07-01-59 to 06-30-1961, to be exact.

But what's surprising to us is that according to online public records we found some years ago, Ayres was also almost simultaneously doing a residency at Children's Hospital in Boston, from 09-01-1959 to 08-31-1961.

Then, according to a 1983-1984 volume of ABMS Who's Who Directory of Medical Specialists Ayres is listed as working as a staff psychiatrist at Judge Baker from 1961-63.

During this same period, the Directory also lists Ayres as working as an Assistant Child Psychiatrist at Boston Children's Hospital, from 1961-63.

But in later directories, there's never any mention of Ayres' residency and staff job at Children's Hospital at all. And in later directories, Ayres leaves out his two years as a staff psychiatrist at Judge Baker from 1961-63.

Why his Children's Hospital work is omitted in later years, we don't know. But it's piqued our curiosity. Especially because of this news story about Children's Hospital and renowned pediatrician Mel Levine last year:

Mar 31, 2008 4:54 pm US/Eastern
Children's Hospital Named In Sex Abuse Suit BOSTON (WBZ) ―

Boston lawyer Carmen Durso says Dr. Melvin Levine abused young boys while working at Children's Hospital.

Children's Hospital Boston and a nationally-known doctor are named in a lawsuit filed Monday allegeding he sexually abused 7 young patients over a 17-year period.The suit was filed by a young man, identified only as "John Doe 5." It lists allegations by six others who say they were abused by Dr. Melvin Levine at various times between 1967 and 1985. While accusing Levine of abuse, the suit accuses the hospital of negligence for allegedly failing to supervise Levine's conduct with young boys.
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Among other things, what's important to us about the Levine/Children's Hospital story is that Children's Hospital had records of the abuse complaints from decades ago but did very little about them at the time, according to the New York Times on August 6, 2008:

In 1985, a few months after he left Boston, court records show that a letter of complaint was sent to the president of Children’s Hospital. That complaint turned into a civil lawsuit filed in 1988 in Federal District Court in Massachusetts. There was also a formal complaint to the Massachusetts medical board in 1993. And Dr. William Coleman, a longtime medical colleague, said Dr. Levine told him in 2002 that another former patient was claiming sexual abuse.
None of the cases were proved in court. The lawsuit was dismissed in 1991 for lack of evidence. The Massachusetts medical board did not find enough evidence to act on the 1993 complaint. The patient who made the complaint to Dr. Levine in 2002 is now a plaintiff represented by Mr. Durso.
But these decisions are not as clear-cut as they may seem. There is little evidence that Children’s Hospital, the University of North Carolina or the medical board ever tried to thoroughly investigate the accusations. For instance, in at least two cases, parents and children were never even interviewed. And the institutions did not notify one another about the individual complaints.
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We're hoping that before the next trial, ALL of Ayres' employee records are subpoened - from Judge Baker; Children's Hospital ; and the Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System where Ayres did an adult psychiatry residency from 07-01-57 to 06-30-1958.

We know it's a lot of work to get one's hands on that stuff. But you never know. Someone might just stumble upon some very interesting information concerning Ayres' proclivities.

6 comments:

  1. Let us hope the San Mateo District Attorney's office subpoena's the records from Children's Hospital AND Judge Baker.

    Something bad happened back there in Boston. Of that I am certain.

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  2. If it is found that Ayres was molesting boys in Boston, the Boston Globe and the New York Times will be all over this. It will become national new. Lets hope that will increase pressure on San Mateo County to get the job done and convict this creep.

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  3. Men who have a sexual proclivity toward young men (or other pedophiles) tend to be drawn to jobs where they have access to potential victims: coaches, boy scout leaders, elementary teachers, priesthood are a few places where there is the dual MO of authority and access to the vulnerable. And the psychiatrist role seems almost perfect for an abuser.

    This makes it all the harder for the others who are there as genuine people to serve, teach and help.

    The shame is that these professions don't make it mandatory for colleagues to be on the watch and report any tiny clue that appears so these behaviors can be stopped. I think the worst part of this story is the fact that there were rumors and suspicions but no one acted on them. The biggest shame of this case is the number of decades he got away with his behavior.

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  4. I'm surprised that these places even have all of his rcords. Most of the times places that I worked at have to get rid of them after 7 or 10 years. I think it's legal, or just company policy.

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  5. The Catholic Church seemed to keep the records of those pedophile priests for decades.

    You know, those records they tried to keep hidden from the public.

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  6. I lived in Beantown for 12 years and if I had a buck for every time some gay male friend of mine told me about a pervie priest (or Cardinal!), professor or well-respected doc, well, I'd be a wealthy lassie now... at the time I couldn't believe that The Church, or Top University or Famous Clinic would just shuffle these vile creeps around, but that's what appears to have happened, in way too many cases. These guys find each other and protect each other.

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