A Baltimore-based gynecologist was found dead in an apparent suicide amid allegations that he had been taking photographs and videos of his patients, reports the Baltimore Sun.
Nikita Levy had worked as a gynecologist for two decades at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland.
He had been fired on Feb. 8 after a colleague alerted security staff to the allegations. He had not been charged with a crime, his lawyer Kenneth Ravenell said.
Baltimore Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Baltimore Sun that a search warrant on Levy's property unveiled "very extensive amounts of evidence that need to be combed through." He's seen about 1000 patients in his tenure as a doctor.
"I think it's fair to say any individual who's been treated by this doctor should contact police," Guglielmi said. "We're preparing for a large number to come forward."
"Any invasion of patient privacy is intolerable," Johns Hopkins spokesperson Kim Hoppe said. "Words cannot express how deeply sorry we are for every patient whose privacy may have been violated."
Here's Johns Hopkins summary of the events leading up to Levy's suicide:
After being alerted by an employee, on February 4, 2013, our security department at Johns Hopkins initiated an investigation of Nikita Levy, M.D., a Hopkins obstetrician/gynecologist. Within a day, we determined that Dr. Levy had been illegally and without our knowledge, photographing his patients and possibly others with his personal photographic and video equipment and storing those images electronically. At that time, in order to protect patient welfare, Dr. Levy was prohibited from any further patient contact.
Johns Hopkins promptly reported this activity to the Baltimore City Police Department. In light of this information, which Dr. Levy acknowledged, we ended his employment on February 8 and offered him counseling services. We then sent a communication to Dr. Levy’s current patients to assure continuity of care and to help them reschedule appointments with another provider.
Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.
Join the conversation about this story »
