US Universities Pay IDR 3.5 Trillion In Compensation Over Allegations Of Sexual Harassment By Campus Gynecologists

Illustration. (Pexels/Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The University of California (UCLA) has agreed to pay nearly $250 million to more than 200 women in connection with allegations of sexual assault by a college gynecologist.

Several women have accused the Los Angeles University (UCLA) website of deliberately concealing allegations of sexual abuse by James Heaps against patients. He is known to have had a 35-year career, between 1983-2018 at the UCLA student health center.

Hundreds of women, some with cancer, said they had been harassed by Heaps.

The university did not begin investigating complaints against Heaps until 2017. The university has been accused in hundreds of lawsuits of deliberately concealing allegations of gynecologists' sexual abuse of patients.

In fact, Heaps' medical license was suspended by a judge in 2019 during a sexual harassment case.

Heaps is known to have faced 21 criminal charges of sexually assaulting seven women, pleading not guilty.

"The alleged conduct by Heaps is despicable and goes against the values of the University," said a UCLA statement on Tuesday.

Illustration. (Unsplash/Sincerely Media)

"Our first and highest obligation will always be to the communities we serve, and we hope this compensation is one step towards healing and closing for the plaintiffs involved," the university said.

But Kara Cagle, a breast cancer survivor who reported on Mr Heaps while he was undergoing treatment at university, told the Los Angeles Times: "Today, after eight long years, I receive an acknowledgment of what happened to me.

"While there is some consolation in it, my heart breaks for all the women who were not spared, all the women who suffered after me, because UCLA refused to act."

Tuesday's settlement did not stop an ongoing lawsuit by more than 300 patients. Meanwhile, the university hopes the financial settlement will provide 'healing and closure' for the women involved.

Last July, a federal judge approved $73 million in compensation against Heaps, filed by more than 5,500 women. According to the attorney in the case, he was once the highest-paid doctor in the entire University of California system.

Meanwhile, John C Manley, an attorney representing one of the women who has filed criminal charges against Heaps, accused him of being a sophisticated predator who carried out harassment under the guise of a normal medical examination.

"She's a board-certified gynecologist and board-certified oncologist. Most of the women are there because they have cancer or they think they have cancer," Manley told the BBC.

The federal lawsuit says Heaps was not properly investigated until the university received a complaint in 2017. He was allowed to continue to see patients during the investigation into his actions, even after the university said his contract would not be renewed.

To note, the latest compensation follows a series of major settlements with US universities over the abuse of patients by campus doctors.

Last month, the University of Michigan reached a $490 million settlement with more than 1,000 people saying they were abused by a sports doctor, over a four-decade career.

Meanwhile, three women are suing one of America's most prestigious colleges, Harvard, arguing that they also ignore allegations of sexual harassment. This was directed at Professor John Comaroff, an anthropologist, with whom he denied accusations of kissing and groping them.