A new report has found that doctors are sexually abusing their own patients, often while they lie unconscious on a table, and there is little recourse for the victims.

A disturbing new report from the Los Angeles Times describes a narrative from a medical student that was published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine — not your typical scientific breakthrough fare, but one that is causing waves through the medical community.

It describes one incident where a surgeon stroked the inner thighs and genitals of a woman was on a table, unconscious, and being prepared for vaginal hysterectomy. The surgeon remarked to the student that “I bet she’s enjoying this” while winking and laughing.

There was debate on whether this essay, which was penned by his medical school instructor, should be published at all. But ultimately, despite the potential damage to their profession, they felt that they needed to bring light to the fact that this was happening.

And that story was just one of many in the essay, which was titled “Our Family Secrets.” The author was kept anonymous, and everyone’s names were changed to protect the victims.

In another incident, the author was doing OB-GYN work when a mother had begun bleeding uncontrollable after deliver a baby girl. A resident diagnosed uterine atony, which is when the uterus’ muscles fail to contract after a delivery. The resident massage the uterus of the patient with his hand, and the bleeding finally stopped. It potentially saved her life.

But what happened next was disturbing: he raised his hand into the air and sang “La Cucaracha” — the patient was a Latina. And while he was doing this, his other hand was still inside her vagina. Finally,t he anesthesiologist tells him to stop.

Of course, these are anecdotes, and not hard numbers on how often it happened. But they say it’s common for doctors to catch colleagues behaving in this manner at least once in their career.

The doctors behind the essay are hoping that this helps stop the behavior once and for all.