Police Work To Identify Patients Whose Privacy May Have Been Violated By Gynecologist
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) -- A growing investigation and growing alarm over a doctor's secret recordings of patients. As police work to sift through a huge number of images, lawsuits are now pending in the case.
Mike Hellgren is digging into the scandal.
This is certainly a disturbing case and people are calling police by the hundreds. But police don't know how many victims there are and now major law firms are getting involved.
More than 300 patients have called the police hotline over concerns gynecologist Nikita Levy secretly videotaped them inside exam rooms at Johns Hopkins East Baltimore Medical Center.
They're also rushing to lawyers. Johnathan Schochor took out ads. He spent the day speaking to dozens of former patients who are now his clients.
"It's fear, outrage, betrayal, breach of faith. My clients come in to me and they're asking all kinds of questions. `Well, he made secret images of us. What did he do with them?'" said Schochor.
Schochor recently dealt with a similar case representing victims of Delaware pediatrician Earl Bradley, who videotaped himself abusing children.
"They have an absolute, affirmative ongoing obligation to vet these doctors," he said.
Despite WJZ's repeated requests, Johns Hopkins has refused to make anyone available for interviews about this case. They said in a statement, "Words cannot express how deeply sorry we are for every patient whose privacy may have been violated."
One former patient who didn't want her face shown said Levy flirted with her, causing her to switch doctors.
"The way that he would say certain things. I wasn't comfortable at all," said the former patient.
Hopkins said co-workers contacted security about Levy on Feb. 4. Soon after, they found evidence of his secret recordings and fired him on Feb. 8. He committed suicide earlier this week.
Police believe there are many victims.
"There had to be red flags someplace. This doctor is unbalanced," Schochor said.
Federal authorities are also helping Baltimore City police because of the large number of images they recovered from Levy's computer. They don't know if he distributed any of those images.
Investigators have growing concerns and are checking to see if Levy may have recorded underage patients. Baltimore City Police have set up a tipline for patients: 410-396-2269.
