A pediatrician who worked at two clinics in the German state of Brandenburg has been charged by German prosecutors with 130 counts of child sexual abuse, including rape, many of which allegedly occurred while he was on duty.
The pediatrician has been in pretrial detention since November of last year, after a mother suspected her son had been assaulted and reported it to the authorities. Until now, the full extent of the abuse, which has shocked the entire region, was unknown, prompting questions about why established protocols failed to prevent such cases. According to a statement released this week by the Potsdam Public Prosecutor’s Office, the pediatrician, who worked for the Havelland Kliniken hospital group, is charged with “crimes against sexual self-determination in a total of 130 cases. These include charges of aggravated child sexual abuse and rape.”
The charges include, among others, aggravated child sexual abuse and rape. According to the prosecution, the 46-year-old doctor committed the crimes between December 1, 2013, and November 5, 2015. “The accused allegedly committed most of the acts while carrying out his professional duties at hospitals in Rathenow and Nauen,” the Public Prosecutor’s Office stated in a press release regarding the case, which will be tried in the Potsdam Regional Court. Charges were filed on May 6, and the number of children who were victims of these abuses has not yet been disclosed.
The case came to light in January of this year when it was revealed that the doctor allegedly sexually abused a child last November while working at the hospital in Rathenow, a small town of 25,000 inhabitants on the banks of the Havel River, about 90 kilometers west of Berlin. Following a complaint filed by the child’s mother, the police conducted a series of searches. Investigators seized a large quantity of data storage devices, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office quickly checked for other potential victims. The accused was then remanded in custody on November 24 due to the “risk of recidivism.”
“Our deepest condolences to all patients who may have been harmed, as well as to their families,” the Havelland Kliniken group wrote in a statement released Thursday evening. They also stated that they would “fully” support the Public Prosecutor’s Office and provide all necessary information to clarify what happened.
The Havelland clinics had already announced in January, when the case came to light, that they would review their protection mechanisms and analyze the case with the help of experts. During the child’s examination, the principle of double jeopardy, which requires the presence of two people, was violated, the Havelland clinic group stated at the time, announcing the start of a thorough internal investigation. “The allegations shake the confidence of patients and their families,” declared Medical Director Mike Lehsnau at the time.
According to officials, all pediatricians work in both Rathenow and the nearby town of Nauen. However, they declined to provide further information about the potentially affected children. The head physician of the children’s clinics in both towns, Torsten Kautzky, explained that he had personally developed the clinics’ child protection plan in 2023.
This plan includes, for example, a firmly established child protection team comprised of trained professionals from various departments. The plan also applies to the emergency department and incorporates the principle of dual screening. According to this principle, examinations of children should never be conducted alone, but only in the presence of a second professional and a family member, such as a parent, Kautzky explained. This also aims to protect staff.
