Army gynecologist charged with video recording patients during exams

An Army gynecologist has been charged with secretly recording more than 40 of his patients at Fort Hood in Texas, military prosecutors revealed the charges, as members of Congress expressed concerns that the Army was slow to stop his misconduct, reported The New York Times.

The doctor, Maj. Blaine McGraw, 47, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, has been charged with 54 counts of indecent visual recording, five counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, one count of willful disobedience of a superior officer and one count of making a false official statement, prosecutors said.

The U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel said the charges covered crimes that the doctor committed against 44 victims this year. Most of the offenses happened during medical exams at Darnall Army Medical Center, although one victim, who was not a patient, was secretly recorded at a private home near Fort Hood, the office said. It said the investigation remained open.

Major McGraw worked at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu from 2019 until 2023, when he started at Fort Hood, military officials said.

Fort Hood said it suspended Major McGraw and revoked his access to medical records on Oct. 17, the same day a patient made allegations against him.

Tripler Army Medical Center said it had sent 1,100 letters to the doctor’s former patients, and Fort Hood said it had sent letters to over 1,400 former patients at Darnall Army Medical Center and had created a hotline for them to report misconduct.

Major McGraw has been held since Dec. 2 in pretrial confinement at the Bell County Jail, in Belton, Texas, after Fort Hood officials accused him of violating the “conditions of liberty imposed by his commander.” The base did not elaborate.

Major McGraw’s lawyer, Daniel Conway, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday, told NBC News on Tuesday that he had not yet seen the charging documents.

“I am aware that they cover non-contact recording allegations,” Mr. Conway said. “We expect the charges will cover offenses for which Dr. McGraw was cooperative with law enforcement. We continue to be cooperative while maintaining that no non-medically touching occurred.”

A lawsuit filed by a military spouse, identified only as Jane Doe, filed last month in District Court in Bell County, Texas, accused the doctor of secretly recording her on Oct. 14 during what she believed would be a routine pelvic exam.

While in the exam room, the suit said, Major McGraw pretended to take a call from a nurse on his phone and then slipped the phone into his breast pocket, with the camera facing outward and recording. After conducting the pelvic exam, the doctor suggested that he perform a breast exam, the lawsuit said.

On Oct. 17, the lawsuit said, the woman received an unexpected call from Army investigators, who informed her that they had recovered images of her body on Major McGraw’s phone from her Oct. 14 appointment.

The woman’s lawsuit also accused Major McGraw of groping her under the guise of medical treatment and of making inappropriate comments about her body and calling her after hours in an effort to “cultivate personal familiarity.”

The suit said that, years earlier, at least one patient at Tripler Medical Center had filed a complaint accusing Major McGraw of improperly recording her pelvic exam, but the chain of command there dismissed the complaint and allowed him to continue practicing.

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