Baltimore, MD – Dr. Nikita Levy, an OB/GYN specialist at Johns Hopkins Hospital, apparently committed suicide on Monday in the midst of a police investigation into allegations that he secretly videotaped and photographed his patients.
Police who searched his Towson, Maryland home pursuant to a search warrant indicated they had found an “extraordinary amount of evidence,” according to the CBS Baltimore affiliate . Levy reportedly was fired by Johns Hopkins earlier this month when these allegations surfaced.
The medical examiner has not yet released the cause of death of Nikita Levy, although an autopsy has been performed.
Dr. Levy had worked for Johns Hopkins since 1988 at the East Baltimore Medical Center, a community clinic close by to the main hospital campus. He spent his whole medical career with Johns Hopkins.
According to the Baltimore Sun , “police revealed Tuesday that at least some of the images were captured with a camera hidden in the top of a pen, and authorities were exploring whether the recordings had been distributed.” Authorities are also trying to find out if he shared any of the images with others.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, a Connecticut prosecutor lost his job last August for filming women in the courthouse with a pen camera.
Levy, 54, had about 1,000 patients, and the police have set up a telephone hotline for any of those patients to come forward.
In addition to the open police investigation, Johns Hopkins is also conducting an independent internal inquiry into the Nikita Levy matter.
The issue of legal liability is looming because it could be huge. As the Baltimore Sun explains:
“Whether Hopkins, insurers or others could be held liable for the doctor’s actions depends on whether there is any evidence of negligence, according to legal experts. And claims of privacy breaches may hinge on whether the women can be identified in the images and what they show, the experts said.”
Johns Hopkins released a statement apologizing for the “intolerable” invasion of patient privacy.
[Top image credit: Shutterstock ]
Watch local TV coverage of the Dr. Nikita Levy suicide and the allegations against him: