By GINGER GIBSON • The News Journal • June 10, 2010

DOVER — A seven-bill package addressing shortcomings uncovered in the investigation of Dr. Earl B. Bradley, the Lewes pediatrician accused of sexually abusing 103 patients, was unveiled Wednesday.

The proposals, drafted by the governor’s and attorney general’s offices, include measures that would increase the power of the Board of Medical Practice, strengthen penalties against abusers, mandate adult supervision while a child under 15 is being treated and provide additional training for law enforcement, doctors and prosecutors.

Nearly every member of the Legislature signed on as a co-sponsor, signalling an easy road ahead for the bills, which are expected to be filed today.

Bradley has been charged with molesting more than 100 children after repeated complaints against him failed to lead to an arrest or loss of his medical license.

In a series of articles, The News Journal detailed that police and medical authorities in Delaware conducted five separate investigations of Bradley — all but one for inappropriate behavior with young girls — from 1994 to 2009 before Bradley was finally arrested and charged with raping and abusing more than 103 children.

The governor’s and attorney general’s offices each ordered investigations into the lapses.

Those reports detailed failings in the system for identifying, reporting and prosecuting potential child molesters.

“We think it’s very important for the protection of Delawareans that these bills get done,” Gov. Jack Markell said Wednesday. “There is nothing that is more important in our state than protecting our kids.”

But not everyone was impressed with the array of bills, including Carla van Dam, a Seattle-based psychologist who has studied the behavior of child molesters, and Dr. Eli Newberger, a Harvard medical professor who has researched child abuse cases for more than 30 years.

“It leaves much too much discretion,” said Newberger, who has been retained as an expert witness in a lawsuit brought by some of Bradley’s alleged victims. “There has got to be a built-in, assured response to any problems or rumblings of concern.”

The bills would:

•Require an adult, either a parent, caretaker or staff member, be present when a child under the age of 15 is undressed, partially undressed or undergoing certain physical examinations.

•Increase penalties for individuals who abuse a child and are in a position of trust or authority.

•Increase penalties for health care officials who don’t report suspicious behavior by doctors to a maximum $10,000 for the first offense and $50,000 for repeat offenders.

•Double the fine to $10,000 for anyone who has knowledge of suspected child abuse but does not report it.

•Increase the scrutiny applied to doctors by the Board of Medical Practice by mandating that physicians applying for a license or renewal disclose if they’ve ever been convicted of a crime, convicted of a drug offense, had their license revoked by another state or been disciplined by a hospital. Applicants would also have to submit fingerprints and other identifying information necessary to complete a background check.

•Give more power to the Board of Medical Practice to work with hospitals and law enforcement officials to identify potential misconduct by doctors. It also requires the board to hold more of its meetings in public .

•Rename the Board of Medical Practice to the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline and add three new members, including two from the public and the director of the Division of Public Health.

•Require additional training for medical professionals, law enforcement officers and prosecutors.

House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, who is the prime sponsor of the bills in the House, said the training element is important because agencies and law enforcement often act independently of one another.

Schwartzkopf described it as a puzzle, saying each agency is like a piece that must learn to fit in with the other pieces to achieve the best outcome.

“Some people weren’t talking to other people because they didn’t realize they have a responsibility to,” Schwartzkopf, a former state police officer, said. “You don’t think too much about the other end.”

Psychologist Van Dam said more precision — and evaluation by outsiders — is needed in the legislation.

She said fines for failure to report suspicious activity have existed in her home state of Washington since the 1980s.

“No one has ever been fined,” said van Dam, who has published two books on recognizing pedophiles. “So increasing fines is kind of meaningless.”

Van Dam believes legislators ought to mandate specific personnel policies outlining strict discipline and complaint procedures that every organization working with children must follow. In particular, she advocates for independent investigators to field complaints of suspicious activity, not hospital management.

“It can never be in-house,” she said. “”It needs to be some neutral place where [other medical professionals] can say, ‘These are the things I saw.’ ”

Schwartzkopf said he anticipates unanimous support for all of the bills.

“We fuss and fight all the time in this place,” Schwartzkopf said. “We’ll put the party stuff aside and will act as one.”

But at least one national expert wonders how effective the bills would be.

Compelling medical professionals to report behavior regarding other physicians without offering them specifics about what kind of behavior is considered suspicious could prompt the opposite of what the proposed regulation intends, said Dr. Andrew P. Sirotnak, head of the child abuse and neglect department at The Children’s Hospital in Denver.

“I think for physicians to report each other for some hunch they have is a difficult burden to place on them. I don’t see how someone is going to control the accuracy,” said Sirotnak, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado. “You could have people not reporting anything or people reporting everything. It’s all in the definition.”

Staff writers Kelly Bothum and Wade Malcolm contributed to this story.
Contact Ginger Gibson at 324-2794 or gigibson@delawareonline.com.