Beebe Medical Center has scheduled three public meetings for everyone in the community to discuss problems related to sexual abuse, particularly in reference to rape charges and other sexual misconduct placed against pediatrician Dr. Earl Bradley.
The first of the three meetings is scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 29. The next two will follow at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 12, and Tuesday, Jan. 26. All three will be in the McCurry Conference Room in the Medical Arts Building at Beebe Medical Center’s Route 24 campus.
Beebe Medical Center President Jeffrey Fried said trained counselors will be on hand to lead the discussion and answer questions. “This will give everyone who’s interested or concerned an opportunity to talk about what’s happened,” said Fried.
In the meantime, Fried said Beebe Medical Center personnel are gathering all records pertaining to Bradley’s 15 years as a doctor with privileges at Beebe Medical Center.
“We’re gathering all of his medical files, personnel files, employee or patient complaints - some of them computerized and some of them not - for delivery to the Attorney General’s Office,” said Fried.
He said when a doctor seeks privileges at Beebe Medical Center, the doctor must first have a license to practice medicine in Delaware. “They then fill out an application seeking privileges to admit patients and see them in the medical center. If they’ve been licensed in multiple states and been on staffs elsewhere, we would request that the applicant provide information or referrals speaking to his or her competency for the field in which privileges are sought.” Bradley is licensed to practice in Delaware and was granted hospital privileges at Beebe in the mid-1990s.
Saying he didn’t want to interfere with the Attorney General’s Office’s investigation, Fried wouldn’t speculate or comment on what has been found, or may be found, in the files being collected by Beebe.
In addition to the public meetings, Susan Woodward of Survivors of Abuse in Recovery Inc. said parents of anyone affected by sexual abuse are invited to attend a free, eight-week therapeutic support group. For information, call 302-645-4903.
Woodward said the program is funded through the Delaware Criminal Justice Council by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime.
|
