Over the last few days, news reports have surfaced that a gynecologist / obstetrician who worked for Johns Hopkins, Dr. Nikita Levy, was improperly taking photographs and videos of patients.
Apparently, a co-worked reported Dr. Levy to a supervisor at Hopkins on 2/4/13 which resulted in Dr. Levy being fired by Hopkins on 2/8/13 and Hopkins notifying the police.
The police subsequently searched Dr. Levy’s home and found a large amount of “evidence.” Presumably, this means that they found many photos and videos of his patients. After retaining a local lawyer, Dr. Levy committed suicide.
Surprisingly, patients are finding out about Dr. Levy’s misconduct through the news media instead of through Hopkins itself. Even the now disgraced St. Joseph Medical Center advised patients when its cardiologist Dr. Midei was found to have unnecessary implanted cardiac stents in hundreds of patients over years.
One major issue is who is responsible for Dr. Levy’s misconduct. He is certainly liable, but his malpractice insurance may exclude coverage for such misconduct and the extent of his assets are unknown. Hopkins, on the other hand, may be liable for the conduct of their employee.
As an attorney who handles major medical malpractice cases, I already have been contacted by several patients of Dr. Levy. These people are angry that Hopkins did not contact them, they want to know whether they are victims and whether the photos / videos have been distributed.
We handle cases like these all of the time in my practice.
Contact Andrew G. Slutkin with further questions or inquiries at 410-385-2786