Three years after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two patients, Chicago OB-GYN Fabio Ortega, 77, now faces a slew of new accusations. A group of more than 300 female patients came together in a new lawsuit against NorthShore Medical Group and Swedish Covenant Hospital, now part of Endeavor Heath, alleging Ortega sexually assaulted them and that hospital staff did nothing to help. The doctor's behavior reportedly went on for years, and despite hundreds of complaints, the health system did nothing to protect its patients.
The patients, who are mostly Spanish-speaking, claim they informed multiple employees about their concerns with Ortega's behavior, but no one did anything to help them, leaving Ortega free to hurt other patients. According to NBC News, the lawsuit was filed in Cook County and named a patient only as "Jane Doe 300," who claims knowledge of abuse dating as far back as 1989.
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Ortega allegedly acted inappropriately with his patients.
According to the lawsuit, Ortega made his patients uncomfortable by asking "intrusive questions about their sex life." He also allegedly performed unnecessary pelvic exams on his mostly Latina patients base.
Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, the Chicago-based law firm representing the plaintiff, told NBC News it put out flyers hoping to identify potential victims, leading to 300 based on the responses it received.
Per the lawsuit, Jane Doe 300 saw Ortega twice during pregnancy in 2017 at age 22, and the doctor assaulted her "under the guise of performing 'vaginal examinations.'"
Jane Doe 300 saw the doctor shortly before his arrest.
Per the suit, the family was assigned a new doctor, which Jane Doe 300's husband questioned because his wife had established a relationship with the original doctor, Ortega, and was already halfway through her pregnancy, but the hospital didn't tell the truth about the doctor's arrest.
The hospital allegedly "withheld its knowledge that Ortega was then the subject of a criminal investigation for sexually abusing his patients."
Ortega allegedly said things that made his patients uncomfortable.
According to another patient account outlined in the suit, the doctor put "his fingers into her vagina, comparing his fingers to the size of her husband's penis." He allegedly asked another patient, who came to him about increased vaginal bleeding, whether she had an enjoyable sex life and asked if she had "anal sex."
Patients tried to get help, but it seemed no one was listening.
Per the lawsuit, patients told nurses and other staff about Ortega's alleged actions, but nothing was done. According to one patient, she also contacted the Chicago Police Department in 2004. The doctor reportedly "asked for a one-year leave of absence without explanation" in 2004 and returned to see patients a short time later.
Chicago police did not respond to NBC News's request to comment on the case.
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Victims blame the hospital.
One victim, now 48, told NBC News she saw Ortega when she was 18 as a newlywed, pregnant with her first baby. She hasn't told her adult children what happened, but seeing him in the news brings up bad memories. "Because [the hospitals] knew what was going on," she said.
The hospital declined to comment on the litigation. It told NBC News there is a zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct.
"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," it shared in a statement. "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."
Ortega was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two patients and has since been released.
Lawyers hope their clients will finally have justice.
Parker Stinar, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told NBC News his firm, which also represented victims in the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case involving athletes with USA Gymnastics, did not file a class-action suit because each victim's story is different.
"How could you say that Jane Doe One's damages for sex abuse are the same as Jane Doe Two?" Stinar said. "Everyone experiences, at the time, physically, emotionally, and different lifelong traumas. They can't be lumped together."
He added that Ortega allegedly took advantage of the women because he "knew that these patients would trust his white coat."
