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Tue 22 Jul, 2014 01:12 pm
Johns Hopkins to Pay $190 Million to Patients of Voyeuristic Gynecologist
The settlement is reportedly one of the largest on record in sexual misconduct cases involving a physician.
Posted by Elizabeth Janney (Editor) , July 21, 2014 at 03:23 PM
In what is one of the largest settlements of its kind, the Johns Hopkins Health System has agreed to pay $190 million to more than 8,000 patients of Dr. Nikita Levy, the gynecologist who secretly recorded his exams using cameras inside pens and key fobs, according to The Baltimore Sun.
A colleague who became suspicious about the pen around his neck reported Levy in February 2013, according to WBAL, which said police found 1,200 videos and 140 images when searching his Towson-area home.
Levy was terminated from his position at the Johns Hopkins East Baltimore Medical Center after allegations surfaced, but he was never criminally charged because he committed suicide in late February 2013, Patch previously reported.
In October 2013, his former patients filed a class action suit alleging that Johns Hopkins should have known about Levy's misconduct, which included not having aides present, inappropriate touching, conducting unnecessary pelvic exams and verbal abuse, the Associated Press reported.
In Levy's 25-year career at Hopkins, he saw approximately 12,600 patients, The Baltimore Sun reported.
After finding out they may have been victims, some women suffered post-traumatic stress anxiety, were unable to see doctors and could not focus at work, Jonathan Schochor, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told ABC 2 News. He said there were additional effects as well.
Because the women's faces weren't visible in the recordings, investigators could not be certain which patients were involved, according to WBAL.
More than 8,000 patients came forward as plaintiffs in the class action suit, and Johns Hopkins Hospital agreed to pay $190 million, to be divided based on the stress that each experienced, in what is one of the largest payouts in a sexual misconduct case involving a physician, the Associated Press reported.
Insurance will cover the payments, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.
Columbia Patch.com
@Miller,
There is a parallel thread on this incident:
http://able2know.org/topic/250237-1
@Miller,
Of course, P. Rosa on the other thread, had to make the post, racial in nature.
The real issue is the trust that many women place in their gynecologists and the damage caused by physicians like Dr. Levy, who take advantage of their roles in the healthcare system.
@Miller,
Miller wrote:
The real issue is the trust that many women place in their gynecologists and the damage caused by physicians like Dr. Levy, who take advantage of their roles in the healthcare system.
The solution is that women become gynecologists. Not only for the situation this thread is based on, but for a more empathic response that a professional woman can possibly give to other women, in my opinion.
@Foofie,
That sounds like a good idea. It looks like there is a major influx of women MDs into the field of urology, however.
@Miller,
Has there been a preference
among women for female gynecologists ?
@OmSigDAVID,
OmSigDAVID wrote:
Has there been a preference
among women for female gynecologists ?
I really don't know. It depends on the patient and of course it also depends on the female doctor.
I've only gone to male gynecologists and this was at a time, that I went to a female internist. I now go to a male internist, so who knows...I might go to a female gynecologist, in the future.
@OmSigDAVID,
Quote:Has there been a preference
among women for female gynecologists ?
David I have had women tell me that they prefer males doctors when it come to being handle in that area of their bodies so like everything else it depend on the woman.
@Miller,
Miller wrote:
That sounds like a good idea. It looks like there is a major influx of women MDs into the field of urology, however.
They would not have done this in the first half of the 20th century, I would guess, since many an aging male with an enlarging prostate got his prostate massaged. The old joke was that after the massage, the patient might expect an engagement ring.
@OmSigDAVID,
OmSigDAVID wrote:
Has there been a preference
among women for female gynecologists ?
In most ( if not all healthcare facilities in Massachusetts), when a woman is examined by a male gynecologist, another woman ( nurse or medical assistant) must be present, to ensure proper and ethical behavior by the physician and as a legal precaution.
@OmSigDAVID,
Yeah, but the reason that other person started the thread is entirely different.
@Miller,
Quote:In most ( if not all healthcare facilities in Massachusetts), when a woman is examined by a male gynecologist, another woman ( nurse or medical assistant) must be present, to ensure proper and ethical behavior by the physician and as a legal precaution.
So no such precautions are needed when it come to female gynecologists?
I had hear strong rumors there are such things as women who are as attracted sexually to other women and to at least the same degree that most men are.
@Miller,
Quote:A colleague who became suspicious about the pen around his neck reported Levy in February 2013, according to WBAL, which said police found 1,200 videos and 140 images when searching his Towson-area home.
Hmm having an odd looking pen around his neck was enough for a judge to sign a search warrant?
Got to be more then that behind how he was uncover.
@BillRM,
Ok, from the news stories he killed himself before the police got the search warrant to look at his home.
He was fired from his position before he suicide and I can only assume when he was challenge about the odd looking pen around his neck he admitted to wrong doing for him to even be fired, as hospital security would had have no right to examine the pen around his neck without his permission.
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