Ex-Boston Children's nurse allegedly assaulted 3rd patient at another Massachusetts hospital, prosecutor says

Prosecutors said in court Monday that there are now "three potential victims" of John Tam, the former Boston Children's Hospital nurse accused of inappropriately touching patients, and the district attorney believes there may be others who have yet to come forward.

Tam, a 33-year-old Hopedale man, pleaded not guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to 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 was released on personal recognizance but ordered not to work in healthcare or have unsupervised contact with children.

3 potential victims 

Two of the alleged victims were teenage boys who had just undergone surgery at Boston Children's Hospital. Prosecutor Madeline Berry said Tam is also charged with indecent assault in Middlesex County on an adult patient at UMass Memorial Medical Center's Marlboro campus who was in a "very similar position, an extremely vulnerable position" to the teenage patients. 

Berry detailed in court how Tam allegedly committed "cowardly, heinous acts" on the two teens in Boston as they awoke from surgery. In September 2022, one 15-year-old cancer patient told Tam "don't touch me down there" when he realized what was happening, Berry said. The other was allegedly assaulted by Tam for several minutes in a hospital bathroom in January 2025, with Tam offering to show him pornographic material on his phone as he touched the boy's genitals, the prosecutor said. 

"These boys were assaulted and taken advantage of in their most vulnerable states with their parents out of sight," Berry said. "He waited until his patients were emerging from anesthesia in hopes they would not remember or notice."

John Tam released on personal recognizance

Defense attorney Joseph Cataldo successfully argued for Tam to be released on personal recognizance instead of cash bail. He said Tam has already stood trial in Roxbury District Court for one count of indecent assault and battery in the 2025 case, and the jury ended up deadlocked.

"In light of a hung jury, the Commonwealth now comes into superior court and obtains an indictment against Tam, to put pressure on Mr. Tam because he wanted to effectuate his right to have a jury trial again in Roxbury," Cataldo said. "The Commonwealth, respectfully, didn't like that result, and now we get an indictment."

Tam also previously worked at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and UMass Memorial's Worcester campus. Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden called Tam's alleged crimes "insidious" and has urged parents to come forward if they think their children may have been assaulted. 

"John Tam may very well have had inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with other survivors during the course of his employ at the Boston Children's Hospital or at other workplaces," Hayden said. 

The court set a potential trial date for April 2027.