In a frank personal essay published on Law.com, former Acting New York State Supreme Court justice Charles Apotheker details sexual abuse he suffered as a child. Apotheker’s abuser has been in the news a lot lately as the decades that Dr. Reginald Archibald, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Rockefeller University Hospital, spent allegedly abusing young boys has come to light.
In the article, Apotheker says he kept the pain and memories of the abuse in a 60-year-old “mental box.” But now with the investigation into Dr. Archibald’s actions, done by Debevoise & Plimpton, it’s increasingly clear that the hospital was aware of allegations against Archibald. Apotheker says that with the publicity, he’s been flooded with memories of abuse.
Judge Apotheker should be applauded for taking the difficult and important step of coming forward. Having such a prominent member of the legal system talk about the abuse he suffered helps to destigmatize abuse and works to crack the cone of silence that all too frequently allows abusers to operate in the shadows for years.