Alleged Clergy Sex Abuse Victim Critical After Near-Drowning
McSorley Family Says He Has 50 Percent Chance Of Survival
POSTED: 6:26 a.m. EDT June 19, 2003
UPDATED: 8:25 a.m. EDT June 19, 2003
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BOSTON -- One of the most outspoken alleged victims of clergy sex abuse is hospitalized in critical condition Thursday after nearly drowning in a local park.
A friend saved Patrick McSorley, 28, of Tauntion, Mass., after McSorley almost drowned in the Neponset River Wednesday afternoon.
McSorley and his friend were walking in Pope John Paul II Park along the river when they became separated. A short time later, the friend saw McSorley in the river, pulled him out and performed CPR. It's not clear how McSorley ended up in the river.
His attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said he is on life support systems at Boston Medical Center. He is in critical condition. Family members said there is a 50-50 chance McSorley will survive.
McSorley often represented the victims of the Rev. John Geoghan and was instrumental in securing a settlement with the archdiocese. He brought a lawsuit against the archdiocese of Boston, saying he was sexually assaulted in 1986 by Geoghan when McSorley was 12 years old.
"He wanted to tell the world about clergy sexual abuse so that other children wouldn't suffer. That's why he did what he did. And he did that with his heart and soul. That's what Patrick was about, and hopefully he'll pull through," said attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented alleged sex abuse victims.
McSorley's lawsuit was one of the first of hundreds filed against the Boston archdiocese, which eventually settled with him and 86 other plaintiffs in 2002 for $10 million. The clergy sex abuse scandal, which showed the archdiocese routinely transferred priests it knew had been accused of abusing children, eventually led to the resignation of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law.
Garabedian said that on Tuesday, McSorley spoke of he was disappointed in how the church was dealing with victims. But Garabedian said he does not know if what happened Wednesday was at all related to the scandal.
A friend saved Patrick McSorley, 28, of Tauntion, Mass., after McSorley almost drowned in the Neponset River Wednesday afternoon.
McSorley and his friend were walking in Pope John Paul II Park along the river when they became separated. A short time later, the friend saw McSorley in the river, pulled him out and performed CPR. It's not clear how McSorley ended up in the river.
His attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said he is on life support systems at Boston Medical Center. He is in critical condition. Family members said there is a 50-50 chance McSorley will survive.
McSorley often represented the victims of the Rev. John Geoghan and was instrumental in securing a settlement with the archdiocese. He brought a lawsuit against the archdiocese of Boston, saying he was sexually assaulted in 1986 by Geoghan when McSorley was 12 years old.
"He wanted to tell the world about clergy sexual abuse so that other children wouldn't suffer. That's why he did what he did. And he did that with his heart and soul. That's what Patrick was about, and hopefully he'll pull through," said attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented alleged sex abuse victims.
McSorley's lawsuit was one of the first of hundreds filed against the Boston archdiocese, which eventually settled with him and 86 other plaintiffs in 2002 for $10 million. The clergy sex abuse scandal, which showed the archdiocese routinely transferred priests it knew had been accused of abusing children, eventually led to the resignation of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law.
Garabedian said that on Tuesday, McSorley spoke of he was disappointed in how the church was dealing with victims. But Garabedian said he does not know if what happened Wednesday was at all related to the scandal.
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