Renowned NYC doctor, 84, who worked alongside Mother Teresa and treated President Ronald Reagan is accused of sexually assaulting a female patient, 30, during medical appointments

A renowned New York City doctor who worked alongside Mother Teresa and once treated a pope and a president has been accused of sexually assaulting a patient after years of pressuring her into a romantic relationship. 

The shocking allegations against Dr Kevin Cahill, 84, were made in a lawsuit filed by an unnamed 30-year-old 'Jane Doe' in Manhattan federal court last week. 

The lawsuit, obtained by the Daily Beast, claims that Cahill groped, forcibly kissed and anally penetrated the woman under the guise of medical treatment during two appointments in January and February 2019. 

'Dr Cahill abused his position as a physician, took advantage of Ms. Doe's vulnerability and desperation for medical care, and assaulted her by performing medically unnecessary, unwarranted, and/or non-indicated rectal and breast exams for no medically viable purpose,' the suit states.   

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Dr Kevin Cahill, 84, was accused of sexually assaulting a female patients during medical appointments in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court last week. Cahill is pictured in 2014, when Lenox Hill Hospital named a research center after him

Cahill has not addressed the allegations publicly and did not immediately return requests for comment from .

The alleged victim is being represented by Carrie Goldberg, a high-profile anti-harassment attorney who made a name for herself defending victims of revenge porn and other forms of cyber abuse. 

Goldberg declined to comment on the Cahill suit when approached by the Daily Beast, saying that she would let the complaint speak for itself. 

Court documents say Doe and Cahill were already involved in 'extensive settlement negotiations before the complaint was filed but were not able to reach an agreement. 

The lawsuit accuses Cahill of multiple crimes including battery, assault and sexual assault. 

Doe is seeking damages 'far exceeding' $75,000, claiming that she has experienced extreme distress, anxiety, and depression as a result of Cahill's alleged actions. 

Cahill, a former Navy Medical Corps doctor, has been a cherished member of the New York medical community for decades, serving in leadership roles at Lenox Hill Hospital, NYU Medical School and on the Health Research Council of New York State.  

He began his medical career in 1961 in Kolkata, India, where he studied tropical disease alongside Mother Teresa, and went on to treat Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan, according to a biography on Irish America's Hall of Fame. 

He also consulted with several national and international organizations, including the United Nations and the NYPD, and taught more than 4,000 students at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland from 1969 to 2006.  

A 1977 profile in the New York Times described Cahill as the 'single most important policy‐maker in New York state' regarding healthcare.  

His current practice is located on Fifth Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side. 

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Cahill, a former Navy Medical Corps doctor, has been a cherished member of the New York medical community for decades and once treated President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II. He is seen accepting an award for humanitarian achievement in 2009

Cahill first treated Doe more than a decade ago when she was 19 after she contracted a parasitic infection while traveling in Nepal, according to the lawsuit.  

The complaint alleges that Cahill, who was in his seventies at the time, developed a 'romantic infatuation' with Doe and began flooding her with emails, phone calls and letters for several years after he treated her.   

Cahill repeatedly invited Doe, who lived in Colorado, to come visit in New York, despite her insisting that she wasn't interested in a romantic relationship with him, according to the suit.

Cahill and Doe reconnected in 2018 after she began suffering from severe, painful symptoms around her menstrual cycle. 

She reached out to Cahill for advice after striking out with several other doctors, and he referred her to a Denver-area specialist. 

The specialist diagnosed Doe with endometriosis, a painful disorder in which uterine lining grows outside the uterus.  

In November of that year, she contacted Cahill again and asked him for help as she struggled to pay for medical treatment.  

The communications were 'friendly and constructive' at first, the suit claims, but Cahill soon resumed his romantic suggestions. 

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Cahill was honored by the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019. He is seen speaking at an event hosted by the organization in April of that year

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Actor Robert De Niro poses with Cahill during the Tribeca Film Festival event

Cahill helped Doe schedule a surgery with another doctor free of charge, and a month before it was set to take place in January 2019, he asked her to come to his office for a physical examination.  

During that visit, Cahill ran blood and urine tests before allegedly telling Doe he needed to perform a rectal exam to check for parasites.  

Doe protested, saying that she showed no signs of parasites and she didn't understand what that had to do with the endometriosis surgery.  

The suit claims that Cahill insisted on performing the exam before Doe could receive additional treatment.

'The implication to Ms. Doe was clear,' the complaint states. 

'She needed to meet Dr. Cahill's demand or else she would not be able to receive the surgery that he had arranged and that she desperately needed and could not afford on her own.'

Doe described the 30-second rectal exam as an 'excruciatingly embarrassing and uncomfortable experience'. 

When it was over, Cahill allegedly reiterated his romantic interest in Doe, telling her that no one would ever love her the way he could. 

He allegedly asked her to come to his apartment to assess his 'tastes', but she declined and left the exam room.   

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Cahill's current practice is located on Fifth Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side (pictured)

Cahill reached out to Doe again in late February, days before her scheduled surgery, to schedule a pre-operative appointment. 

She assumed that the appointment would be purely information, but when she arrived Cahill allegedly insisted on conducting an exam - even though she'd already had one in Colorado.  

During the second exam, the suit alleges that Cahill ripped a hole in Doe's hospital gown and began fondling her breasts and the area above her pelvis.  

She tried to pull away, at which point he felt her neck as though he was checking her lymph nodes and then kissed her forcibly on the lips. 

When she told him to stop, he allegedly responded: 'We're not there yet but we're getting close.' 

He then grabbed her by the forearms, told her he loved her and tried to kiss her again, the suit claims. 

Doe finally managed to free herself from his grip and quickly left the exam room.  

In the weeks following her surgery, Cahill allegedly continued to inundate her with phone calls. 

The suit describes one voicemail in which he stated: 'I called you 27 times yesterday and you never returned my call.' 

Doe said she wrote Cahill a letter reiterating that she had no romantic interest in him, but the incessant calls continued. 

The harassment didn't stop until July 2019 when Doe cut off communication with Cahill entirely, the suit claims.  

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Jane Doe is being represented by Carrie Goldberg (pictured), a high-profile anti-harassment attorney. Goldberg declined to comment when asked about the Cahill case