--- title: Johns Hopkins to Pay $190 Million to Victims Whose Exams Were Recorded description: Class-action lawsuit involved a male gynecologist who secretly filmed and took pictures during exams with female patients canonical: https://time.com/3012921/johns-hopkins-190-million-recorded-exams/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-21T17:51:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:15:41.459Z article:section: Health og:title: Johns Hopkins to Pay $190M to Victims of Secretly Recorded Exams og:description: A male gynecologist secretly filmed and took pictures during exams with female patients og:url: https://time.com/3012921/johns-hopkins-190-million-recorded-exams/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebf7eba3e0dbc9b9/69869c8bcd804d3356ccc06b/johns-hopkins-hospital.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A sign stands in front of part of the Johns Hopkins Hospital complex on July 8, 2014, in Baltimore. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Johns Hopkins to Pay $190M to Victims of Secretly Recorded Exams twitter:description: A male gynecologist secretly filmed and took pictures during exams with female patients twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebf7eba3e0dbc9b9/69869c8bcd804d3356ccc06b/johns-hopkins-hospital.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Johns Hopkins to Pay $190 Million to Victims of Secretly Recorded Exams by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 21, 2014 5:51 PM UTC  A sign stands in front of part of the Johns Hopkins Hospital complex on July 8, 2014, in Baltimore. A sign stands in front of part of the Johns Hopkins Hospital complex on July 8, 2014, in Baltimore.Patrick Semansky—AP by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 21, 2014 5:51 PM UTC Johns Hopkins Hospital announced on Monday that it [reached](http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/Nikita%5FLevy.html) a $190 million settlement with patients whose exams were secretly recorded by a gynecologist. The class-action lawsuit involved more than 8,000 former patients of Dr. Nikita Levy, the Associated Press [reports](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FGYNECOLOGIST%5FSECRET%5FRECORDINGS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT), and the deal marks one of the largest involving sexual misconduct by a doctor. Most of the discovered videos and photographs—about 1,200 videos and 140 photos—did not include the women’s faces and were taken with a pen-like camera he wore around his neck. The case never led to criminal charges but essentially argued that Johns Hopkins should have been aware of what the doctor was doing. Levy committed suicide 10 days after he was fired in February 2013, which occurred after an employee came forward with suspicions. Johns Hopkins released a statement in October on the discovery of Levy’s “misconduct and breach of trust,” [writing](http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/Nikita%5FLevy.html): “We have redoubled our efforts to ensure that all of us in the Johns Hopkins community understand our responsibility, and we want to encourage you to speak up if you have any concerns about patient care or privacy.” In a statement sent to reporters, Jonathan Schochor, the lawsuit’s lead attorney, said: “When learning of Dr. Levy’s behavior, our clients were extremely distraught. They felt a great breach of faith and trust. They felt betrayed. Now, with this proposed settlement, we can begin the process of healing our community.” The settlement still needs final approval by a judge, the AP reports. “We assure you that one individual does not define Johns Hopkins,” the hospital system said on Monday, acknowledging the settlement. “Johns Hopkins is defined by the tens of thousands of employees who come to work determined to provide world-class care for our patients and their families.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3012921/johns-hopkins-190-million-recorded-exams/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3012921/johns-hopkins-190-million-recorded-exams/"},"headline":"Johns Hopkins to Pay $190 Million to Victims of Secretly Recorded Exams","datePublished":"2014-07-21T17:51:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:15:41.459Z","description":"A male gynecologist secretly filmed and took pictures during exams with female patients","url":"https://time.com/3012921/johns-hopkins-190-million-recorded-exams/","keywords":["Health Care","medicine","Lawsuit","Settlement","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebf7eba3e0dbc9b9/69869c8bcd804d3356ccc06b/johns-hopkins-hospital.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltebf7eba3e0dbc9b9/69869c8bcd804d3356ccc06b/johns-hopkins-hospital.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A sign stands in front of part of the Johns Hopkins Hospital complex on July 8, 2014, in Baltimore.","caption":"A sign stands in front of part of the Johns Hopkins Hospital complex on July 8, 2014, in Baltimore.","creditText":"Patrick Semansky—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3012921/johns-hopkins-190-million-recorded-exams/","name":"Johns Hopkins to Pay $190 Million to Victims of Secretly Recorded Exams"}}]}] ```