LawSuit: Child Psychiatrist Abused Patient, Damages Sought

As seen in the Cincinatti Enquirer

A Cincinnati child psychiatrist is accused in a lawsuit of sexually molesting one of his patients.

A 19-year-old man, who was not identified in the lawsuit that was filed Monday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, is suing Dr. Leo D’Souza for child abuse and medical malpractice. The man is also suing D’Souza’s employer, Cincinnati Counseling Service, for negligence.

Neither D’Souza nor the counseling center returned a call for comment.

The man alleges in his suit the abuse started between 1999 or 2000 and ended in December of 2005. D’Souza was treating the man at the counseling center’s Westwood office for bipolar disorder, depression and other related conditions.

D’Souza has not been criminally charged.

The man’s parents recently filed a report with the Ohio Medical Board, according to the man’s attorney, Mike Allen. Those complaints are not public until they have been substantiated.

“This was a serious breach of medical ethics with obvious devastating effects for our client,” Allen said. “This kind of abuse you almost never recover from.”

The plaintiff is seeking at least $25,000 in damages.

In the lawsuit, the man said he was 12 or 13 when D’Souza began to include a “physical examination” during office visits. During those exams, which happened at least six times, D’Souza fondled the man, the lawsuit alleges.

“As a direct and proximate result of Dr. D’Souza’s negligence, the symptoms of John Doe’s underlying mental disorders were exacerbated,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit names Cincinnati Counseling Service, which has four offices, alleging the company either knew or should have known about the abuse.