Retired pediatrician Richard Kauff, of Norwell, pleaded not guilty to charges of sexually assaulting two former patients during physical exams, dating back decades, but prosecutors said in court that 22 more patients have come forward, two of whom are minors.
Charges have not yet been brought for the 22 more former patients who have sent in complaints, the prosecutors said, but they said they faced similar abuse at the hands of the doctor. The prosecutors anticipated bringing more charges on their behalf and combining them into one comprehensive case.
On Monday, Kauff faced 13 counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old and four counts of rape of a child under 16 years old. He was joined at Hingham District Court by his wife.
A judge ordered that Kauff be held on $50,000 cash bail, stay away from the two women whose accusations led to the charges, stay away from the medical facilities in Norwell and Kingston where the alleged abuse occurred and to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 16, including family members. Kauff was also ordered to surrender his passport and his medical license, which was active as of last month.
Kauff spent about 40 years as a licensed pediatrician in the South Shore — and in those years, he never had a single complaint lodged against with the state. However, an anonymous Facebook post titled, "Inappropriate Medical Exams in Kids" kicked off the investigation.
The two women accusing Kauff didn't know each other but saw the post and began talking about the uncomfortable and painful touching they each experienced during annual physical exams. Not only were their experiences similar, they realized, they had the same childhood doctor: Kauff.
NBC10 Boston spoke with other former patients not long ago who had much different experiences with Kauff, saying they couldn't imagine he would do such a thing.
He announced his retirement in a South Shore Health blog post in July 2022.
