Ex-Boston Doctor Facing Sexual Abuse Suit Dies

BOSTON (AP) - A former pediatrician accused of giving medically unnecessary genital exams to dozens of boys over nearly two decades in Massachusetts has died in North Carolina.

Attorney Edward Mahoney said on Friday that Melvin Levine died in North Carolina at age 71. He did not have additional details.

A woman who answered the phone at Levine's home in Rougemont, N.C., declined to comment.

On Thursday, about 40 former patients, all now adults, filed a medical malpractice and sexual abuse suit against Levine. It alleges that, while a doctor at Children's Hospital Boston from 1966 to 1985, he "stroked, massaged and manipulated the genitals of his patients in a manner which was not medically necessary."

His attorney says Levine's "groundbreaking contributions to the field of developmental behavioral pediatrics will continue to benefit children worldwide."

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)