Former Boston Children's Hospital nurse charged with sexual assault; DA says there may be more victims
A former nurse at Boston Children's Hospital has been charged with sexually assaulting two teenage boys in his care, and authorities say there could be more victims from when he was employed at other hospitals in Massachusetts.
John Tam, a 33-year-old from Hopedale, is charged with four counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years or older, and four counts of indecent assault and battery on a patient by a healthcare provider. He is due to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on Monday.
Nurse John Tam
Tam has also worked at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and UMass Memorial Medical Center's Worcester and Marlboro campuses.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said parents whose children may have encountered Tam at a hospital should call authorities if they suspect their children may have been assaulted.
"We are concerned that these may not be isolated incidents and we want to assure parents that any information they provide will be thoroughly and sensitively investigated," Hayden said in a statement.
Accusations against Boston Children's Hospital nurse
The first case involves a 15-year-old boy who had surgery on his chest at Boston Children's Hospital in September of 2022.
"He was administered anesthesia during the surgery, and awoke to find his nurse, later identified as John Tam, inappropriately touching his genitals," the district attorney said.
The second incident happened in January of 2025 and caused Boston police officers to respond to Children's Hospital for a reported sexual assault.
Hayden said the minor victim just had surgery under anesthesia and Tam was responsible for doing vital checks afterward. Tam allegedly told the victim's mother to get her car and drive to the hospital entrance so the boy could be discharged.
During that time, it's alleged that Tam wheeled the boy to a single-stall restroom even though he didn't say he had to use the bathroom.
"Tam then sexually assaulted the victim for approximately eight minutes, including fondling his genitals and offering to pull up pornographic material on his phone," the district attorney said.
When the boy's mother found out, she alerted hospital staff. Police looked at surveillance footage and saw Tam wheeling the victim to the bathroom and leaving nine minutes later, the district attorney said.
WBZ-TV has reached out to Boston Children's Hospital for comment.
In 2024, a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Boston Children's Hospital was arrested on charges of possessing and distributing child sex abuse material. Dr. Christopher Sheerer was sentenced in January to 22 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
