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NorthShore University HealthSystem claims, in a recently filed a motion to dismiss, that it is not liable for its gynecologist, Fabio Ortega, who is accused of sexually abusing numerous patients, and who has since has been indicted.

The motion stems from a lawsuit filed by one of its trusting female patients (Jane Doe 2) who alleges she was sexually abused at Evanston Hospital.

According to the complaint that our firm filed in Cook County, Illinois:

• In February 2017, police alerted NorthShore that they were investigating Ortega for sexually assaulting a female patient during an exam.
• Numerous staff members knew that Ortega was under police investigation, including one of its executive officers.
• Despite knowing Ortega was under investigation for sexually assaulting a patient, NorthShore allowed Ortega to continue to see patients.
• NorthShore continued to give Ortega unfettered access to female patients.
• NorthShore did not tell its patients that he was under criminal investigation.
• Finally, six months later, on August 11, 2017, a NorthShore attorney accompanied Ortega to the police station where he was questioned about several female patients' allegations that he engaged in sexually perverted and abusive behavior.
• NorthShore then sent him back to work, unaccompanied.
• The very next day, on August 12, 2017, Ortega entered Jane Doe 2's recovery room at Evanston Hospital, just one day after she had just given birth, and he sexually assaulted her.
• Ortega returned, on August 13, 2017, and  sexually assaulted her again under the guise of performing a discharge exam.

Jane Doe 2 claims, among other things, that NorthShore had a duty to warn her about Ortega. In its motion to dismiss, NorthShore claims it is not liable for Ortega and that it is "unclear if a duty to warn even exists under any circumstances."

Jane Doe 2 is returning to court, along with 2 additional trusting female patients, when the courts reopen following the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.

NorthShore publicly touts patient safety while, in court filings, claims it is not liable for putting trusting female patients in the hands of an accused sexual predator.

NorthShore has been sued by a total of six (6) female patients who allege they were sexually assaulted at clinics in Skokie and Lincolnwood, Illinois. And, Swedish Covenant Hospital, where Ortega worked before he went to NorthShore has been sued by two female patients.