Amna Nawaz:
Four women who say they were abused by the same Army doctor went to Capitol Hill today to tell their stories to members of Congress. These women are the tip of the iceberg, four among potentially thousands of victims and what’s being called the largest sexual abuse case in the history of the U.S. military.
In October, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, or CID, launched a criminal investigation into Major Blaine McGraw, an Army OB-GYN at Fort Hood in Texas, after a patient’s husband alleged the doctor had inappropriately touched her.
Investigators discovered McGraw had secretly videotaped hundreds of his patients during sensitive exams he performed. The Army charged McGraw last month with more than 50 counts of indecent visual recording, as well as conduct on becoming an officer, willful disobedience of a superior officer, and making a false official statement.
And the Army has contacted roughly 3,000 former patients of McGraw from Fort Hood and from his previous post, Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. McGraw is currently being held in a Texas jail.
I spoke with four survivors of his abuse this morning before they met with lawmakers.
And a warning, this conversation does contain descriptions of sexual abuse.
Thank you so much for being here. I know this is not an easy conversation, and I want to thank you for taking the time to be here. But I also want to note that we’re not using your real names, at your request, so you can maintain some degree of privacy, as I know, for some of you, this is the first time speaking publicly about these incidents.
So let’s jump in.
And, Clair, I will begin with you. I will note for our viewers your husband is in Air Force Special Operations. You saw Dr. McGraw a number of times at Fort Hood. Tell us a little bit about what you were seeing him for and what you can share about those exams.
“Clair”:
I started seeing him after some unsuccessful appointments with my PCM. They referred me to OB-GYN. I was seeing him for a year just trying to figure out, being in my 40s, like all of those changes that come with it.
And he actually, in the beginning seemed to be one of the only providers that listened and kind of cared, even understood what I was going through. He would make weird comments at times. I kind of just brushed it off.
Like, he would make comments about my breasts during a breast exam. He made a comment after one of my surgeries about being able to see all of my tattoos, which was — it caught me off guard because my tattoos are mainly above, like, my arms and my upper body. So it caught me off guard, but, again, kind of brushed it off.
Almost every visit, I had to have a breast or pelvic exam, and it was always under the guise of the treatment I was receiving. My mom was going through cancer at the time, so it was just precautionary. Everything was always kind of explained away.
Amna Nawaz:
You would question it when something struck you as odd? And it was explained.
“Clair”:
I kind of would question it, maybe in my head more so than outright, because it was immediately explained away. And I’m not a doctor. I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know what to look for in certain things. So I was really trusting that system.
Amna Nawaz:
Did anything else strike you during those exams? You mentioned always being asked to undress completely regardless of what you were there for?
“Clair”:
Yes, I always had a breast exam every time, no gown, no chaperone ever. So it was just take your top off, get on the table, take your pants off, get on the table, like nothing. And the chaperones were — someone was always busy, no one was available.
Amna Nawaz:
So, in late October, you’re contacted by Army investigators, and you learn that McGraw had been secretly recording you.
“Clair”:
Yes.
Amna Nawaz:
What is that moment like? Just walk us through what goes through your head and what you feel in that moment.
“Clair”:
The day before I learned this, I was just contacted by CID and they asked me to come in answering some questions about a provider. They presented me with a picture and they said, please identify this person. How do you know them? How long have you known them?
And they turned it around, and it was a still image of myself.
Amna Nawaz:
You recognized yourself.
“Clair”:
Immediately. I knew the T-shirt, I was, like, that was from last week. I knew exactly. And I said: “Where is this from?”
They said: “Well, you were recorded during your entire breast and pelvic exam.”
Amna Nawaz:
What do you think in that moment?
“Clair”:
You don’t. You’re just going from, you thought you had this trusting relationship with this provider that had been helping you, and now you’re being told in 30 seconds that they had recorded you and violated you in this way. And you don’t know what to think.
Amna Nawaz:
Angela, you were — you retired last year, right? But you were active duty at Fort Hood before that, we should note, as a field artillery fire control specialist. Tell us a little bit about what brought you to seek care from Dr. McGraw and what happened during that visit.
“Angela”:
In March of 2023, I was sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier. He decided to take what he wanted while I was sleeping. The following day, it was very brutal. I immediately went to the E.R. to get everything checked out.
McGraw was supposed to be conducting my rape kit. And I thought I was crazy for the past two years, until I heard that other people experienced similar situations with him. He never conducted the rape kit. Ultimately, that was why my report fell through.
I reported the fellow soldier for assaulting me, but there was no physical evidence of the rape because the kit was never completed, just a very invasive exam of parts of my body that didn’t need to be examined internally to that extent.
Amna Nawaz:
I’m so sorry for what you have been through.
Did anything in that exam, anything in that interaction with McGraw, did it strike you as odd at the time?
“Angela”:
I wasn’t comfortable, but I was a 19-year-old girl that had just been assaulted and I was just trusting this doctor. It’s like he’s gotten know better than me. This doctor has to be doing what’s right. There’s no way that this would happen right after that other event happened in less than 24 hours.
So it was a lot of denial.
Amna Nawaz:
Did Army investigators contact you as well? How did you come to learn about this wider pattern of abuse?
“Angela”:
My friend sent me the press conference at Fort Hood. She said that she was on the patients list and she knew that I had had an interaction with him too and that I should come forward and speak about my interaction.
Amna Nawaz:
And have you heard from investigators since then? What’s the response been like from them?
“Angela”:
No, there has been no response.
Amna Nawaz:
No response whatsoever?
“Angela”:
And they won’t release my medical records to me either. So it has been a little bit difficult with them.
Amna Nawaz:
Nicole, tell us about you and your experience. Your husband, we should note, is in the Army at Fort Hood. So you saw McGraw back in 2024. I understand you were pregnant at the time and you went in because you had a sinus infection. What happened in that visit?
“Nicole”:
Yes, I went in for a sinus infection. I previously told the hospital not to schedule me with any males because of the fact that I’m a domestic violence survivor and sexual assault survivor.
So I didn’t feel comfortable and, from the very first appointment, told them over and over again, put it on my chart, I don’t want a male provider. Please do not stick me with one. I will refuse care if you do. And I was not aware that Dr. McGraw was the one that I got stuck with that day.
And at that point, I was 24 weeks pregnant and I just wanted relief. Went in, he started being touchy-feely, putting his hand on my knee, talking to me. I told him: “Please remove your hand. That’s uncomfortable.” And he laughed about it, kind of chuckled, laughed, and then proceeded with examining my neck and my nose and my throat and my ears and said: “Yes, you have a sinus infection, but I want to do a pelvic exam.”
I told him:
“No, I don’t need a pelvic exam.”
He tried three more times to sit there and tell me that I did need one. I told him, “I do not. I don’t consent to it, but I will consent to you doing a stomach exam to check on my baby to see how my baby is doing.”
And he proceeded to tell me to get on the table and lift my shirt up over my breasts and pull my pants down. I said: “No, I’m not doing that. I don’t need to do that. It’s a stomach exam, exam in my stomach.”
He proceeded to pull my shirt up even more over my breasts. He started groping my breasts, and then he went to my pelvic area and pulled my pants down. I told him: “No, remove your hands.” He started laughing about it.
And I told him: “If you don’t remove your hands from me, I will punch you in your face. This exam is over.”
I left. I went to the front and started talking to the lady and tried to report it. She gave me a number and told me to call the hospital and file a report. I tried for the rest of that month over and over and over again, calling, went up there. Nothing. Everyone was too busy. Everyone was in a meeting. No one could take my statement. Nothing.
Amna Nawaz:
What does that feel like in the moment when you’re trying to raise the alarm, you know something is wrong, and no one will listen to you?
“Nicole”:
Helpless.
“Clair”:
It’s frustrating, because we’re in this system that is supposed to protect our husbands, protect us. And then when you’re supposed to say something is wrong, it just falls on deaf ears. It makes you feel unimportant.
Amna Nawaz:
Beth, I want to bring you in here, because everyone else had an experience with Dr. McGraw at Fort Hood. But you first met him when he was a medical resident at a facility in Hawaii called Tripler at the base there.
You saw him in an emergency room visit, right? Tell us what happened.
“Beth”:
I went to the emergency room because I was bleeding excessively, so much so that I needed a blood transfusion.
But I had the same experience, where he was very compassionate and listened, and then proceeded to do an exam in the emergency room just behind the curtain. While sitting on my bed, he removed my sheets, my gown. I was exposed completely. People were walking by.
Someone walks by in a curtain in an emergency room, and it breezes open. It was uncomfortable. It was painful. When he finished, my wife was there, and she looked — we looked at each other and we went: “That’s really weird. That was really weird.”
Ten minutes later, the emergency room doctor came in and said: “OK, it’s time to do your pelvic exam.”
And I said: “I just had one. Do I need another one?”
And he looked super confused. And he said: “Who just gave you a pelvic exam?”
I didn’t know his name at the time. I said “the last doctor who was just here.” And he was like: “No, we need to go to a private room and give you a proper pelvic exam.”
And that was done private, three nurses in there, extra blankets because it was cold. It was exactly what an exam should be. I wound up spending the night in the E.R. because there was no rooms available. And the next morning, Major McGraw came back. He said he was on his way out. He wanted to check back.
“What’s going on?”
I said: “Well, I haven’t been bleeding. I got blood. I’m OK.”
“Well, we should do another exam.”
So, again, sat on my bed, did another very invasive exam and also did a breast exam. And then when we saw the news, my wife and I looked at each other and said: “Oh, I wonder if it’s that guy.”
Amna Nawaz:
You thought of him right away?
“Beth”:
Right away.
I wound up getting a certified letter in the mail alerting me that I was in the files and that they were going to be doing an investigation.
Amna Nawaz:
What’s it been like since then to hear all the other stories of the other women? Because we should underscore here, this happened with you at least a year before a number of other women had similar incidents.
“Beth”:
I have a lot of guilt, because I feel like, if I could have reported that and been strong and did something about it, then maybe these women wouldn’t be in that situation. So I do have a lot of guilt about that.
There’s no way to wrestle with that. There were a lot of women at Tripler who had worse — similar — worse situations in mind. But I do have a lot of guilt that I was not able to let the Army know earlier. I don’t know if anything would have been done, but I don’t know how to justify that in my head as to not coming forward sooner.
He said there was a chaperone. I never had a chaperone. My records were not accurate. He never described the exam he gave me or the breast exam. You just trust that not only is this a doctor, but this is an Army doctor. Your Army is your family, family first. Your family is taking care of you. So why would I question what’s going on?
It’s very hard to trust. I have not had medical care since. It throws me into a panic to think about it. There’s just a complete lack of trust and faith in the system.
Amna Nawaz:
Does everyone share that lack of faith or trust? I mean, how many, show of hands, trust the military to see this through and for justice and accountability to be served here? Does anyone here trust the system?
No. Why not?
“Clair”:
It’s broken. I mean, they don’t even take complaints seriously of instances in the hospital. How are they going to take this type of complaint? Like, this shows bad on them. So it’s just more of them trying to protect themselves, while leaving us to deal with all of this.
Amna Nawaz:
Beth, we should note that the Department of Defense says, as a result of the investigation into McGraw, there is a new health policy that they’re instituting requiring that a chaperone be offered to be present during all sensitive exams.
What do you make of that? Is that sufficient?
“Beth”:
I don’t believe that’s sufficient. What would stop a doctor from just saying, “I offered and they declined”?
My records indicated I had a chaperone. It said chaperone E.D. nurse. I did not have a chaperone at any point when I was seeing Dr. McGraw. I don’t think that’s enough.
Amna Nawaz:
Angela, what do you make of this? And if that policy is not enough, what is it you’re asking lawmakers here in Washington to do?
“Angela”:
Our rules and regulations change with command constantly. We’re looking for consistency and accountability. If we can set a law stating that chaperones are mandatory and it won’t fall on us — like, I was a 19-year-old girl. I had no clue that I needed to have a chaperone or that I could even ask for one.
And especially in that headspace, it should not have been on me to try and speak up in that moment. So, making this a law mandated that can’t be changed when command changes in and out, that would provide confidence and consistency for us as soldiers and spouses.
Amna Nawaz:
Nicole, is this to you about one doctor, about this one man? Or are you worried about a larger system here?
“Nicole”:
It’s a whole system. It’s not just one person. It’s a medical system in general. It’s the Army in general. It’s the military in general. It’s not just one person.
“Beth”:
There needs to be systemic change as far as reporting. There needs to be better accountability for a higher command. Everyone reports to someone. So command needs to take accountability for their soldier doing what they did, not pass them around to other duty stations.
Amna Nawaz:
Did any of that play a role here, you think, the fact that we’re talking about a major in the Army, that this is a system that really does take seniority and rank very seriously? Who thinks that may have played a role here?
“Angela”:
Absolutely.
Amna Nawaz:
You do? Why?
“Angela”:
We, as soldiers, it is so incredibly uncomfortable to report. It is not something that is promoted. We will have Q.R. codes you can scan to report or fill out a survey.
The second that somebody sees you scanning that, they have something to say. Your own command when you go back to your unit after having some kind of an uncomfortable report will be like, oh, you’re just complaining that your knee hurts because you don’t want to run.
I had a soldier that had a torn meniscus that she was running on for several months because reporting is frowned upon. I myself was harassed for a year-and-a-half by my unit after reporting my assault. It’s — that needs to be fixed across the board for every single soldier and spouse.
Anyone that steps onto a military installation should know that they can report and it will be taken seriously and action will happen.
Amna Nawaz:
Clair, I will give you the last word here. What do you want people who are hearing your stories for the first time, maybe understanding the scope of this for the first time to understand?
“Clair”:
That we’re stronger together. And if you have been in this situation, speak out, find one of us, find somebody to help you so we can make this stop, because, if we continue to be silent, it’s just going to continue to happen.
And we can’t have that for our daughters, for the soldiers that are coming after us. We can’t continue to let this happen. So, say something, and we’re there for you.
Amna Nawaz:
I can’t thank you all enough for being here today, for sharing your stories. We’re going to continue to follow up on this as it unfolds.
Clair, Angela, Nicole and Beth, thank you.
“Clair”:
Thank you.
“Angela”:
Thank you.
“Beth”:
Thank you.
“Nicole”:
Thank you.
