Staff Reporter: Ferdous Khandaker, a New York expatriate lustful doctor, has been accused of molesting more than a dozen women. Hundreds of expatriate Bangladeshis and Americans have stood by the victims of her lust. Female patients are often sexually harassed in her chambers in the name of physical examination. The signature campaign to demand the revocation of professional licenses continues. More than 1500 signatures have already been collected. As soon as 2500 signatures are completed, an application related to the revocation of professional license will be sent to the concerned department. He has been accused of violating the rules of the medical profession and molesting underage girls in the name of physical examination without a meeting schedule.
Haniam Maria, a New York resident, wrote in a link to a poster with the signature-raising campaign at the urging of the human rights organization Change.org in a Facebook post, More than a dozen girls and women have come forward in accusing Dr. Ferdous Khandker of sexually molesting them while they were visiting his office located in Jackson Heights. The problem is, this man is not a pediatrician and he legally cannot see anyone under the age of 18. However, he continued to check many underaged girls. Although he is highly sought after in the Bengali community, according to many testimonies from the victims and reviews online, he has abused his medical powers in many ways from insurance fraud to assaulting women. Many of the accounts from the victims follow a similar pattern.
Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse, Child Molestation, Graphic References. One victim recalls her story with this doctor from when she was 14. “Back when I was about 14 I believe, I went to this doctor because I was sick. He’s not my PCP, so that was the only time I ever went to him. My mom and I were in the room. He came inside and with his back to my mom who was sitting in the chair and blocked her visual from me. The way he stood, he was covering me. He took the stethoscope and went straight to my nipple and rubbed it all around. He didn’t check to hear my lungs or my heart beat. He looked at me in a very disgusting way. I felt so shocked and scared. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I was young, but old enough to know that this doctor did not examine me the right way. He asked me if I had a cough and prescribed me some medication and left and that was it. He didn’t even take the time to ask me how I was feeling or what was wrong with me. He touched my breasts and left. I was too afraid to speak up then. I was also in denial because he is a very well known doctor in my community, I knew no one would believe my story.”
Another personal account by one of his victims occurred two years ago when she was new to the country, “So In 2017-18 I was a new immigrant and the lady I was staying with made me change my PCP saying Dr. Khandakar is the best. At that time I had an unfinished checkup for breast lumps. I went to him to get a reference for an OBGYN. While I was talking to him, my aunt and my older sister who is also a doctor in Bangladesh were in the room with me. I told him of other issues I was experiencing like how my eyes were watering and hurting for a while due to a cold. As I was speaking, he casually started checking up on my breast asking where it hurts. I never told him it hurt there to begin with. I just told him my checkup in Bangladesh was incomplete so I wanted see an OBGYN. He did not ask for my permission and I immediately jerked away from him. After that I never got it checked because he didn’t refer me to anyone and I wasn’t given any new medications.
The 2nd time, my mom went to do her check up , took me with her, forced me to get my checkup done since I had a blood test due. I was there for only my mom. I did not need to interact with him. He saw me I think and called me and my mom in. He kept casually chitchatting and he brushed his hands on my chest multiple times while doing so. I was very uncomfortable. I started to go stiff as he was holding my wrist the whole time. He then proceeded to touch my mom’s face when she said she hadn’t gone to her dentist yet “jokingly” Then one the same lady who used to be my housemate, shared that the doctor touched her breast as well.
Recently, this girl visited Khandker before the pandemic hit. Here is her story.
“This incident took place on February 5th, 2020. I went with mom for a regular checkup. My mom has known this doctor (Khandaker) for over 15 years. So, I used to always go to him since he was our pcp. He always used to make nasty and sexual jokes with my mom, but she used to ignore it or laugh it off thinking this is just his personality. Those sexual jokes used to make me feel uncomfortable. I was waiting outside of his office for my mom to be done with her checkup but then I decided since I’m here already I might as well get checked as well. I went to Dr. Khandker and asked him if I should get a checkup too? He said of course you should, and I’ll do that. I didn’t even have to wait or take appointments. He just took me right into his office and started looking at me in a nasty way. I let that go. Then he came to me with his stethoscope and pulled my t-shirt without even asking for my consent. He has never done such things till that day. I was quite uncomfortable and tried to pull my t-shirt down. He started smiling at me disgustingly and passing comments about my bra. He stared at my boobs for a minute and I tried pushing him away. Then he just grabbed my nipples with a nasty smile on his face. That’s when I lost it and pushed him hard. He realized I was mad and tried to deescalate the situation by saying if you want you can call your mom. Let me prescribe you some vitamins etc etc. I don’t remember anything else he was saying at that moment because I was shaking. Mom came in and was asking him about my health, but I rushed her out. If they check the CCTV from that day, you can actually see I went in with a smiley face and came out frightened. I told my mom everything and she wanted to go in and confront him. I was too scared and ashamed of the incident that I didn’t want to make a scene out of it. So, my mom called his office and He said, “Let me call you in a bit.” He called us back right away from his personal cell phone. I guess he didn’t want that conversation to be recorded. He tried to convince my mom saying how much he cares about my mom and he tried to deceive us. Mom hung up the call. However, he called back 2/3 times and we didn’t pick up. Later on, it messed me up entirely. The fact that I couldn’t stand up for myself, the fact that I let that happen to me is still killing me from inside. I’m having nightmares and anxiety attacks and I decided I’m going to speak up and stop this guy from harassing any other woman ever again.”
There are many more testimonies like this with similar patterns of him lifting a patient’s Kameez or shirt up, and then touching their breasts inappropriately. He has also misdiagnosed many patients due to negligence. He has given them the wrong medicine, refused to pay attention to their health problems and in one case, was even texting on his phone and laughing while an elderly patient tried to tell him what was wrong with him.
“He almost killed my grandparents. He is known to neglect elderly and male patients and pays special attention to females. I took my grandfather to him two years ago for a doctors appointment and he was on his cell phone texting the whole time as my grandfather was speaking to him telling him what was wrong. I yelled at him to put his phone down and left with my grandfather. I wish I had recorded him. A month later my grandfather ended up in a coma because this man misdiagnosed and the doctors at mount sinai let us know he was taking the wrong medication. This man commits insurance fraud by just charging people’s insurance companies but doesn’t treat his patients properly or even actually physically see them. He’s a corrupt doctor and he needs to be exposed. All his victims deserve justice.”
On June 25, 2020 an instagram user, Jellyjamee posted about a friend who was the first one to share her story of what happened to her in the hands of this man at the age of 15 years old. After this story was posted, many women came forward with their own personal traumatic story with this doctor. Many of these include bengali women who are students, daughters, sisters, wives, mothers, aunties who were too afraid to speak out against him and wish to remain anonymous to avoid facing backlash from this man and his extensive number of followers. He is very well known in the bengali community due to a heavy media presence from his personal website where he claims to be affiliated with Mount Sinai Hospital, youtube, facebook, and even news outlets. Please help these victims share their stories and get justice. We need to raise awareness about this man. Sign this petition so we can keep this doctor from assaulting more innocent victims who are only seeking professional medical help. No one should have to visit a doctors office and leave violated and feeling traumatized for the rest of their lives. Source: Haniam Maria’s facebook post.
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