New sexual misconduct scandal in the U.S. military

Eighty-one women have come forward to join a lawsuit against a U.S. Army gynecologist who has recently been criminally charged for secretly recording dozens of patients during medical exams.

The lawsuit, which was initially filed in November, claims that Blane McGraw, a U.S. Army doctor and major at Fort Hood in Texas, repeatedly and inappropriately harassed dozens of women during appointments at a military medical center and secretly filmed them.

The women allege they were subjected to invasive, unnecessary, and humiliating touching and covert recordings.

Victims’ attorneys filed a detailed complaint last Wednesday, less than a day after the Army’s Special Court Advisor’s Office brought criminal charges against McGraw. According to CNN, the criminal charges include 54 counts of producing sexually explicit recordings and other related offenses involving 44 identified victims.

While the military case focuses on the alleged recordings, the updated lawsuit goes further, accusing McGraw of assault, sexual abuse, and battery under Texas law. The complaint claims he intentionally and knowingly engaged in harmful and offensive physical contact during women’s exams.

The new lawsuit also suggests that the Army should investigate McGraw’s earlier tenure as a physician assistant at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. It notes that no formal notifications were given to patients at Fort Campbell.

The lawsuit states: McGraw advanced in a military culture that repeatedly failed to protect women from sexual misconduct. The scale of this case is not an exceptional anomaly—it is an inevitable outcome of a culture that has yet to change.

Legal experts say this case may test whether recent Pentagon reforms aimed at addressing sexual misconduct and supporting survivors are truly effective.

The U.S. Army has stated that its officials take the allegations against McGraw seriously. Fort Hood issued statements confirming that investigators launched an inquiry within hours of a patient’s report on October 17 and immediately suspended McGraw.

One attorney representing the victims noted that the Army’s slow and ambiguous response mirrors the systemic failures revealed in the case of Major Michael Stokken, where earlier this year, a military doctor admitted to sexual crimes against 40 men.

The attorney added that if the Army does not address these shortcomings now, this moment will merely become another chapter overshadowed by far greater harms inevitably affecting female soldiers, their spouses, and daughters of military personnel.

Most of the alleged victims in the amended lawsuit reside in Texas, while 18 others live across 14 additional states. Many are active-duty soldiers or military family members who moved to Texas or Hawaii, where McGraw had previously served as a physician.

McGraw treated patients at Fort Hood from 2023 onward. CNN reports indicate instances of misconduct dating back to 2021, when McGraw worked at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii.