Army OB-GYN accused of secretly recording women under his care

Nick Schifrin:

This week, the U.S. Army has been reckoning with a sexual abuse scandal that could involve the largest number of allegations in its history.

An Army doctor is accused of abusing women who were under his care.

Here's Amna Nawaz.

Amna Nawaz:

The Army has sent out approximately 2,500 patient notification letters to women examined by one doctor within its ranks. It's part of a massive investigation into cases of alleged sexual abuse, all patients of 47-year-old doctor and Army Major Blaine McGraw. He's an OB-GYN at Fort Hood in Texas and before that at an Army base in Hawaii.

Approximately 80 women have filed a legal complaint against him. One case alleges that McGraw — quote — "used his position of trust to sexually exploit, manipulate and secretly record women under his care."

Joining us now is attorney Andrew Cobos representing 70 alleged victims of Dr. McGraw. Cobos is a West Point graduate who served in the U.S. Army, including at Fort Hood. Andrew, welcome to the show.

Thanks for joining us.

Andrew Cobos, Attorney For Alleged Victims:

Glad to be here.

Amna Nawaz:

So just start by telling us about these women that you're representing. Who are they? Are they active duty? Are they military spouses? And what exactly are they alleging was done to them by this doctor?

Andrew Cobos:

The majority of the women that we represent are military spouses, and they span all four branches of the military, Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine.

Now, this abuse happened both at Fort Hood and in Hawaii at Tripler Army Medical Center. And there were hundreds, if not thousands, of women under Dr. McGraw's care, and he violated them in multiple ways. He took photographs and videos of them as they were in their most vulnerable position in his exam room.

He touched them in improper ways that were medically unnecessary. And, on occasion, he induced birth without their consent, without their knowledge, and without notification to their family that they were going to give birth. And so this is, as I have been describing it, one of the most — one of the largest and most significant sexual assault cases in the history of the military.

Amna Nawaz:

In one of the complaints filed by Jane Doe — obviously, her identity is protected — she talked about invasive breast and vaginal exams that were unnecessary, not being given a medical gown to wear during those examinations and then, as you mentioned, secretly being recorded on a phone that Dr. McGraw kept in his jacket pocket.

How did your clients come to learn about those photos and videos?

Andrew Cobos:

Fortunately, one of the women that we represent had her husband in the examination room. Now, this is not a common occurrence. It was actually a rare occurrence for Dr. McGraw to have anybody, to allow anybody in the exam room while he was working on these patients.

And the husband of his patient was behind Dr. McGraw. He leaned in while he was doing a pelvic examination and his phone in his lab coat tipped forward. The husband was able to visually see that the phone was on record. And immediately he was concerned about his wife, about her in this position.

And so he tried notifying the chain of command. He called CID. Fortunately, CID started an investigation. And he experienced a lot of frustration trying to bring his complaints and trying to bring awareness to the military that this doctor was unlawfully and improperly recording his patients.

And so, ultimately, CID got involved. An investigation was undertaken. And they found large numbers of videos and photographs on his phone.

Amna Nawaz:

CID, of course, is the Criminal Investigative Division of the Army.

The Army did provide us with a statement, which I want to read to you in part here. They said, they're committed to supporting patients affected by the allegations. They have swiftly established a call center, assigned a special victims counsel, are actively notifying patients. And they say they have created a patient support line as well.

They're encouraging people with information to come forward. But, as you mentioned, Andrew, before Fort Hood, Dr. McGraw was posted in Hawaii. They tell us in a statement that they're in the process of notifying Dr. McGraw's patients.

You told my colleague that you spoke to nurses at that Hawaii medical center. What did you hear from them?

Andrew Cobos:

When I spoke to the nurses at Tripler Army Medical Center, what they said is that it was common knowledge around Tripler that there were allegations against Dr. McGraw of videotaping and recording his patients, so much so that it was a stating joke among the folks at Tripler that Dr. McGraw always got the crazy patients.

And that is what I have heard. We are working to establish in greater detail the investigation that was conducted over McGraw at Tripler Medical Center. We know that there was an investigation, but, so far, we hadn't heard from the Army.

And that's left a lot of people wondering, how long did the Army know, what did they know, and why didn't they take proactive measures to address these situations?

Amna Nawaz:

So, you know that there was a complaint at the Hawaii medical center before he was transferred to Fort Hood. I know some of your clients said they complained about this doctor and those complaints went nowhere.

Andrew Cobos:

Well, really, we have a couple different issues there.

One is that complaints were going unrecognized. I have clients who, after visiting with McGraw, stepped outside into the hospital, and they talked to the on-duty nurse. They talked to the sergeant who was at the desk in tears. One of my clients tells me she was in tears and she talked for 10 minutes and she said, he violated me.

And she was given a telephone number and said: "I can't take a report. Call this number."

And she called the number time after time after time after time and she got hung up on. She got put on hold. She was unable to actually make the report. And this is one of the common complaints.

Amna Nawaz:

I realize there are a lot of questions still unanswered here, Andrew, but what does justice look like? What's the accountability your clients are seeking?

Andrew Cobos:

There are multiple ways that justice should occur and accountability should occur in this situation.

The first and most obvious way is to hold the perpetrator responsible for his actions. But McGraw is also accountable to my clients, who he victimized. But more than that, the Army is accountable and they should be held responsible for what they did not do in this situation.

My clients are ultimately filing a federal tort claims act lawsuit against the Army, and they're seeking restitution for the damages and the harms that they suffered at the hands of an Army employee, who should have been removed from that position. And the unfortunate thing is that this is a pattern that happens in the Army and, quite frankly, happens in all of the military services.

And if you just want to go back to the Vanessa Guillen incident in 2020 and look at what the fallout was from that incident, a 272-page report addressing the shortcomings of the Army. And it happens again and again and again. And I think that that is what accountability looks like. It looks like reforming the system, not just paying it lip service, but actually going in and figuring out, how do we address the problem of sexual assault in the military?

And that is a good starting point to address the problems that these victims faced and what accountability looks like in the Army.

Amna Nawaz:

That is attorney Andrew Cobos joining us tonight.

Andrew, thank you for your time. We hope you will come back as you learn more about this case as it unfolds. We appreciate it.

Andrew Cobos:

Thank you. I absolutely will.