The records that matter in an abuse claim aren’t always the ones a patient has seen. Staff schedules, earlier complaints, and decisions about supervision can help explain how an alleged abuser had access to patients. They can also help establish whether a hospital or residential facility bears responsibility.
That investigation calls for a lawyer who knows which records to request and how to assess them. For the survivor, a comfortable working relationship matters as well. They need to be able to talk about what happened and understand what pursuing the case would involve.
1. Injury Lawyer Team
Injury Lawyer Team is led by Jonathan Rosenfeld and handles sexual abuse claims involving hospitals, psychiatric facilities, doctors, and therapists. Its institutional work extends to schools, religious organizations, and youth detention centers.
Its attorneys look at how the person accused gained access to the patient and what the facility knew. That work can involve medical records, staff schedules, earlier complaints, and accounts from witnesses. A staffing schedule may show who was on duty; an earlier complaint may raise questions about what managers knew and how they responded.
The firm reports securing a $2.3 million settlement for two women assaulted by a certified nursing assistant during medical care. It offers free, confidential consultations and works on a contingency basis, so attorney fees are tied to recovering compensation. The consultation is also a chance to discuss whether the attorneys have handled a claim involving the same type of facility.
2. Manly, Stewart, Finaldi & Thom
Manly, Stewart, Finaldi & Thom represented 234 women in the litigation involving former USC gynecologist George Tyndall. As co-liaison counsel, it helped coordinate cases resolved through an $852 million global settlement covering 710 former patients.
The allegations reached beyond Tyndall’s conduct. They included claims that USC had failed to respond to complaints about him, putting the university’s handling of earlier warnings at issue. The distinction matters when a patient’s experience forms part of a longer history of complaints. It shifts attention to who received those concerns, what they did with them, and why the physician continued to see patients.
The firm has also represented survivors abused by former Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar. Its wider sexual abuse practice includes schools, religious institutions, and sports organizations.
3. Slater Slater Schulman LLP
Some survivors begin looking for legal advice years after the abuse. Slater Slater Schulman LLP’s founding and managing partner, Adam P. Slater, has worked on historical claims involving medical institutions and universities. For someone coming forward years later, a consultation can focus on the information still available. That includes records that might be located, people who may remember the events, and the survivor’s own account.
The firm reports a $71.5 million settlement for 79 former patients of gynecologist Robert Hadden in claims involving Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian. Its practice covers adults and children, including abuse in medical settings, foster care, residential facilities, schools, and religious organizations.
4. Schochor, Staton, Goldberg and Cardea, P.A.
Patient privacy was a central issue in the Johns Hopkins case involving gynecologist Nikita Levy, who secretly photographed and filmed patients during examinations. The Baltimore firm obtained an order sealing images recovered by police. For patients, the concern included what would happen to intimate material collected without their knowledge. The sealing order addressed that privacy issue as the civil litigation proceeded.
Jonathan Schochor chaired the plaintiffs’ steering committee in that case, which resulted in a $190 million settlement in 2014.
The firm’s work spans medical malpractice, sexual abuse, and class actions. During the Levy case, it consulted specialists in obstetrics, gynecology, and forensic psychiatry to assess the examinations and the harm patients had suffered. That brought questions about acceptable medical procedures and psychological harm into the same investigation.
5. Sommers Schwartz, P.C.
In November 2025, Sommers Schwartz attorney Lisa Esser-Weidenfeller and co-counsel filed a proposed class action against DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital and its corporate owners. The complaint alleged that failures in oversight had allowed a nurse to sexually abuse vulnerable female patients.
The firm represents patients in Michigan and nationally in cases involving medical professionals. These can arise from an examination, a therapy session, or a hospital stay, with claims addressing both the provider’s conduct and an institution’s failure to protect patients.
It offers free, confidential consultations for patients who are still unsure whether conduct explained as treatment crossed professional boundaries. A patient can describe the appointment, what they were told, and what caused concern. That gives the attorney a starting point for assessing the encounter and discussing whether there is a possible civil claim.
Finding the Right Fit
The firms were selected for their publicly reported work on hospital and institutional sexual abuse cases and are listed in no particular order. The right choice depends on the setting, the evidence, and the legal issues in the survivor’s case. Past settlements offer some context, though they don’t predict what another claim will recover.
An attorney handling hospital claims should be comfortable reading medical documentation and working with medical experts. The first conversation should also address the practical questions: who will handle the claim, how the firm will keep in touch, and how fees and case expenses will be calculated. Attorney fees and case expenses deserve separate explanations. A survivor can ask which costs arise during an investigation, who pays them initially, and what happens to those costs if the claim doesn’t succeed.
Before agreeing to representation, a survivor should feel heard and understand what working with the attorney would involve.
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