Patient speaks out as former Cincinnati Children’s doctor faces child porn charges
By Sean MacKinnon
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CINCINNATI (WLWT) — A family is speaking out as a former Cincinnati Children’s doctor faces child pornography charges.
It comes as another local family filed a lawsuit against Howard Saal, wanting it to become a class-action lawsuit.
The woman we spoke with wanted to talk anonymously and not show her face. She’s not part of the lawsuit and says she’s not a victim, but she and her young daughter were patients of Saal.
“I was always wrong, he was right,” she said. “It’s like looking at the devil. You see his face.”
Howard Saal was this woman’s genetics doctor her whole life at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
“It’s my second home,” she said.
Last week, federal child pornography charges were filed against Saal. Patients got a letter last month saying he left the hospital in July, but it did not say why.
The woman WLWT spoke with said not only was she a patient, but she also brought her young daughter to Saal.
“I don’t know what he was doing on his home computer. You just don’t know. And it’s eerie to think about,” she said.
In June, Hamilton County deputies took electronics from Saal’s home. The FBI says it found more than 150,000 images and nearly 500 videos of child sex abuse.
In a new lawsuit, a Clermont County family claims: “Saal often took photographs of children in the nude, claiming they were for medical purposes.”
The patient we spoke with said Saal would exit the room and bring back a camera bag.
“He had two cameras the last couple times we went. I don’t know if they were the hospital’s. I don’t know if one was his personal one,” she said. “A little digital camera and then there was a big professional (one).
Investigators say there’s no evidence any of the child pornography involved patients or any child connected to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
“I want justice to be served, and I’m hopeful that it will be; it will just take time, and no one wants that. You know, he’s out walking around right now, among us,” she said.
In federal court, a judge ruled Saal could remain out of jail ahead of his next court hearing.
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