300 women join lawsuit filed against Chicago-area health system after gynecologist accused of sexual abuse

By Elyssa Kaufman

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — Three hundred women have joined a lawsuit filed against NorthShore University HealthSystem/Swedish Covenant Hospital for employing a gynecologist accused of sexual abuse.

Fabio Ortega pleaded guilty to sexually abusing patients in October of 2021.

The attorneys filed the lawsuit against the hospitals detailing unnecessary breast exams and inappropriate vaginal exams of underage women, some of them rape survivors. Many of them are immigrants and Spanish-speaking patients.

Those attorneys claimed repeated complaints, over years- including complaints filed by hospital staff, were ignored by the hospital systems allowing the abuse to continue.

“Women reported that Ortega’s examinations felt more sexual than medical but they didn’t have the medical expertise to know one way or the other,” Symone Shinton, partner of Stinar Gould, Grieco and Hensley, said.” Women reported again and again and again. Each time they were met with not only disbelief by Swedish and Northshore — they were told to question their various experiences as women.”

Ortega is serving prison time after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two patients. More lawsuits against him are pending.

CBS 2 is waiting on a response from the hospital system, now called Endeavor Health.

In a statement, Endeavor Health said:

“As a healthcare provider, there is nothing more important than providing a safe and trusted environment for our patients, community and team members. It’s a responsibility we take very seriously. We 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 trust is earned, and we will always look for opportunities to demonstrate our commitment to the highest standards of safety and quality in our care. We have enhanced and continue to improve and evolve our processes and policies to ensure we have an environment that supports reporting of threatened or actual abuse. Our policies require we investigate all allegations of abuse that are reported to us, take prompt action in all matters and fully cooperate with law enforcement.

We have focused on reviewing individual claims and are committed to engaging in a process that allows for meaningful review and response to each person impacted.

Due to pending legal matters and patient privacy, we are unable to comment on any specific case or allegations.”

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