By Maggie Vespa, Halle Lukasiewicz and Selina Guevara —
NBC News
A lawsuit against two major Chicago hospitals accuses an obstetrician-gynecologist of sexually abusing more than 300 women, most of them Latinas and Spanish speakers, and alleges the hospitals ignored his complaints.
The complaint is the latest chapter in the legal saga against Fabio Ortega, 77, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to sexually abusing two patients.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a woman, alleges that staff members at NorthShore Medical Group and Swedish Covenant Hospital, now both operated by Endeavor Health, concealed complaints about the former doctor's behavior in the years before his conviction and "knowingly They gave a platform to sexually abuse” hundreds of other patients.
“The women reported it. They reported it over and over again,” attorney Symone Shinton said at a press conference Tuesday in which she announced the lawsuit. “They were told to question their own experiences as women. “They were told that the very abuse they were complaining about was medically necessary and normal.”
Fabio Ortega.Cook County Sheriff's Office
The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of a woman identified only as “Jane Doe 300,” described the alleged experiences of several unnamed patients dating back to 1989, saying Ortega performed “unnecessary pelvic exams.” and asked the “patients invasive questions about their sex lives.”
Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, the Chicago-based law firm representing the plaintiff, said it reached the figure of more than 300 alleged victims after publishing legal ads about Ortega and receiving responses.
In the case of Jane Doe 300, who the lawsuit says saw Ortega twice in 2017 when she was 22 years old and pregnant, Ortega assaulted her “under the pretext of performing 'vaginal exams.'”
[Migrant women who were raped before crossing the border face restrictive abortion laws in the US]
She was one of Ortega's last patients before he was arrested, according to the complaint. When Jane Doe 300's husband asked why she was being assigned a new doctor in the middle of her pregnancy, NorthShore Hospital employees repeatedly told them that the doctor was simply "not available," according to the lawsuit.
The hospital “concealed its knowledge that Ortega was then the subject of a criminal investigation for sexually abusing his patients,” the lawsuit adds.
In the case of another alleged victim, who the lawsuit said was pregnant at the time, Ortega inserted “her fingers into her vagina, comparing her fingers to the size of her husband's penis.”
And in the alleged case of a 40-year-old woman who was referred to Ortega after experiencing heavy bleeding, the lawsuit says Ortega used his fingers to stimulate her and “asked her questions including, but not limited to, whether she was satisfied with her life.” sexual and if he had anal sex.”
The lawsuit also describes how patients allegedly reported abuse to nursing assistants and family doctors. And in one case in 2004, even to the Chicago police.
The Chicago Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In November 2004, according to the lawsuit, Ortega “asked for a one-year leave without explanation,” after which he allegedly resumed treating patients.
Most of Ortega's alleged victims, according to the lawsuit, were Latinas and spoke little or no English. They were sent for treatment, lawyers said, because they spoke Spanish.
For a 48-year-old Mexican woman who is one of the alleged victims named anonymously in the lawsuit, the case has resurrected painful memories she had buried years ago.
NBC News, Telemundo's sister network, typically does not identify victims of sexual assault. The woman asked to remain anonymous because she, she said, has not told her two adult daughters about her experiences. She said she started going with Ortega when she was a married 18-year-old and pregnant with her first child.
She was angry, the woman said of the lawsuit. "Because [the hospitals] knew what was going on."
Ortega served three years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two patients. He has since been released. Requests for comment from Ortega and lawyers who represented him in previous cases were not immediately returned.
Endeavor Health declined to comment on pending litigation or specific allegations, but said its hospitals “have absolutely no tolerance for abuse of any kind.”
“We recognize the tremendous strength and courage it takes for survivors of abuse to come forward. “We believe that trust is earned and we will always seek opportunities to demonstrate our commitment to the highest standards of safety and quality in our care,” she said in a statement.
“We have improved and continue to improve and evolve our processes and policies to ensure that we have an environment that supports the reporting of actual threats or abuse. “Our policies require that we investigate all allegations of abuse reported to us, take immediate action on all matters, and cooperate fully with authorities.”
Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley also represented the victims of former USA Gymnastics doctor and convicted sexual predator Larry Nassar.
[Larry Nassar, convicted of sexual abuse, stabbed several times in a federal prison in Florida]
In this case, attorneys allege that the hospitals ignored the complaints because the patients were Latinas and did not speak English.
"Unfortunately, what is commonly seen is healthcare providers silencing minority patients when they raise concerns or file complaints," said Parker Stinar, an attorney for the plaintiffs. Ortega “knew that these patients would trust his white coat.”
Stinar said Tuesday that while this first lawsuit is filed on behalf of just one of more than 300 alleged victims, additional lawsuits are coming. He did not say how many or what amount in damages the company would ultimately seek.
He added that his team is not pursuing a class-action case because that tactic gives each plaintiff the same amount in damages.
“How can you say that Jane Doe One's damages for sexual abuse are the same as Jane Doe Two's damages?” Stinar explained. “Everyone experiences, at times, physical, emotional and different traumas throughout their lives. "They cannot be grouped."
NBC News, in its inquiries Tuesday, asked Endeavor Health if any of the hospitals attempted to alert Ortega's patients when he was first accused in 2021 of sexually abusing two of them.
Endeavor Health did not respond to that inquiry.
“The hospitals, I feel like they don't care about us as Spaniards or women or Latinas,” said the woman from Mexico who spoke to NBC News. “You teach your children to be careful when they go out. You know, walking alone, riding in cars with strangers. But how can this be prevented? Do you tell them to be afraid of their doctor?