MARYLAND JUDGE APPROVES $190M SETTLEMENT IN GYNECOLOGIST SUIT

An unidentified insurer is expected to pay a $190m settlement of a lawsuit between Johns Hopkins University Hospital and 8,000 women and girls who were secretly photographed by a gynecologist using tiny cameras during examinations over the course of decades. The settlement was approved by Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Sylvester Cox at the weekend. Plaintiffs’ attorneys filed the action 11 months ago, saying that the hospital should have been aware of Dr Nikita Levy’s activities. Johns Hopkins agreed to the settlement two months ago. The misconduct came to light in February 2013 after a female co-worker of Dr Levy’s noticed a pen-like camera worn around his neck. The doctor committed suicide shortly thereafter when a raid on his home yielded around 1,200 videos and 140 images of patients on his home computers. Insurance proceeds are to be placed in an interest-bearing account and will distributed to victims based on the level of trauma that they suffered. Each victim is to be evaluated by a panel of psychologists, psychiatrists and attorneys to determine one of four levels of trauma she has suffered.