It was a question posed on a private Facebook page that resulted in a retired Boston-area pediatrician\u2019s being charged this week in Hingham District Court with raping two children \u2014 and sparked an investigation spanning several generations of former patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was it \u201cnormal\u201d for a doctor to insert \u201ctheir fingers in her vagina during a yearly checkup?\u201d a woman identified in a Norwell police report as Victim 2 asked the group Oct. 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe response she received from the post was overwhelming in that what happened to her was not the norm,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that turned out to be news to another woman, identified in the police report as Victim 1, who said that the same thing had happened to her and that she had been under the impression that it was a \u201cnormal part of a routine pediatric physical exam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was then, police said, that both women realized they had been patients of Dr. Richard Kauff, who had treated children in the town of Norwell for 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the time Kauff was arraigned Monday, 20 more women and two girls had come forward to accuse him of sexual assault, Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Beth Kusmin said in Hingham District Court on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number of allegations \u201chas been growing exponentially\u201d since Kauff was charged on Nov. 2 with raping Victims 1 and 2, Kusmin told the judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe anticipate dozens more similar charges,\u201d Kusmin said, adding that for now Kauff is charged only with assaulting Victims 1 and 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kauff \u201cadamantly denies the charges,\u201d his lawyer, Kelli Lea Porges, told the court. She described her client as \u201ca lifelong member of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kauff and his lawyer did not immediately respond to phone requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kauff, 68, who is charged with 12 felony counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and four felony counts of rape of a child with force, was released on $50,000 bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prosecutors say Kauff could spend the rest of his life in prison if he is convicted of the alleged crimes, which date from November 1991 to August 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n