Another 81 women have joined a civil suit against a US army gynecologist who was recently criminally charged in connection with accusations that he secretly filmed dozens of his patients during medical examinations.
The civil lawsuit, which initially began in November, alleges that Blaine McGraw, a doctor and army major at Fort Hood in Texas, repeatedly inappropriately touched and secretly filmed dozens of women during appointments at an on-base medical center.
The women allege they were “subjected to invasive, unnecessary, and degrading touching, voyeurism, and covert filming”.
Attorneys for the alleged victims submitted an expanded complaint Wednesday, less than a day after the army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel filed criminal charges against McGraw. According to CNN, the criminal charges involve 54 specifications of “indecent visual recording” and other related offenses concerning 44 identified victims.
While the military’s case centers on the alleged recordings, the updated civil suit goes further, accusing McGraw of assault, sexual assault and battery under Texas law. The filing claims he “intentionally and knowingly made harmful and offensive physical contact” during gynecological exams. McGraw treated patients at Fort Hood beginning in 2023.
One active-duty soldier described an encounter during a rape-kit examination in which she suspects McGraw took photos of her.
“During that deeply vulnerable procedure, he was constantly on his phone while between her legs,” the lawsuit states. The woman now believes he used his phone to photograph her during the exam.
The complaint also says that McGraw “failed to document in her medical records that a rape kit had ever been performed”. Prosecutors who subsequently pressed her case in criminal court “lacked clear forensic documentation, and her assailant was ultimately acquitted”, the complaint contends.
“McGraw’s misconduct in this setting did not merely fail to protect a victim of sexual violence,” the filing adds. “It actively undermined her access to justice and allowed her perpetrator to escape accountability.”
Legal experts and advocacy groups told the Washington Post the case may test whether recent Pentagon reforms to address sexual misconduct and support survivors are working as intended.
