Detroit Physician Accused of Molesting Female Patients
A well-known Detroit-area physician who is a pillar in the Orthodox community has been sued for malpractice by two female patients who claim he repeatedly molested them during examinations.
Maury Ellenberg, a doctor in suburban Novi who serves as of Michigan’s largest Jewish day school, allegedly fondled the two women after they went to him for treatment in 2014, a local television station reported.
“He was in my inner thighs and rubbing the outside of my thighs,” patient Terri Hutcherson said.
Valerie Gayles says Ellenberg often had her perform squats during visits while wearing a robe with an open back. She was shocked to realize that the doctor was sexually aroused and touching her.
“And I felt something as I was doing the squats and I turned around and looked,” she said.
Both women reported the incidents to police but no action was taken in part because there were no witnesses. They say he also fondled their breasts during exams.
Ellenberg’s lawyer denied the charges and claimed he passed a polygraph test. She called him a “pillar of the community.”
Ellenberg is the chairman of the board of Yeshiva Beth Yehuda, Michigan’s largest Jewish day school.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
