Accused Child Porn Doctor Suspended from Medical Group

Advocate Health Care officials are cooperating with police after a Downers Grove family doctor associated with its medical group was charged with 17 felonies for child pornogrpahy last week.

Edward McMenamin, 67, was the subject of a months-long criminal investigation after local police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that child pornography was possibly being downloaded and distributed in the Downers Grove area, according to the charges.

McMenamin was arrested outside his Downers Grove apartment building on May 29. His son told ABC-7 that his parents were divorced.

Police say numerous images and videos of child pornography were found on a computer. The family physician was charged five counts of dissemination of child pornography, each a Class X felony, and 12 Class 2 felony charges of possession of child pornography.

A DuPage County judge set McMenamin’s bail at $500,000 on Friday.

Gerry O’Keefe, spokesman for Advocate Health Care, said in an email to Patch that McMenamin has been suspended from practicing with the Advocate Medical Group, as well as Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital during the ongoing criminal investigation. The medical group has also opened its own internal investigation.

O’Keefe said that McMenamin joined Advocate Medical Group in 2014. He was listed in the medical group’s online physician directory as the chairman of the Department of Family Practice at Advocate Good Samaritan.

McMenamin’s information has since been removed from the directory. Advocate has also opened its own internal investigation.

“Based on the information currently available, we have suspended Dr. McMenamin’s ability to practice medicine at Advocate,” O’Keefe said.  “To our knowledge, Dr. McMenamin has not been involved in any inappropriate acts with his patients. We will continue to cooperate with the authorities in their investigation.”

McMenamin has an office at Downers Grove Family Practice at 4900 Main St. The medical practice, which some say is considered an “institution” in Downers Grove, was founded in 1975. McMenamin became a partner in the practice in 1981. The family medical practice had also taken its website down since news of the arrests.

Online patient reviews from 2008 up until McMenamin’s arrest were mixed. Many alleged that the doctor was rude and sarcastic, that he spoke so loudly he could be heard throughout the office by other patients, and that he often made inappropriate comments to those he examined. Some negative reviews referred to McMenamin as "strange."

Two positive reviews praised the physician -- who noted his areas of expertise  as urinary tract infections and menopause -- for his medical knowledge.

After news of McMenamin’s arrest, patients were leaving links to news stories about the child pornography charges.

Someone who answered the phone at the family medical practice on Friday referred calls to Advocate’s corporate office.

McMenamin's next court appearance is July 7 at the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton.