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Patients who accused UCLA doctor of sexual abuse to share
$243.6-million settlement
BY RICHARD WINTONSTAFF WRITER
FEB. 8, 2022 UPDATED 4:12 PM PT
LA Times
The University of California system has agreed to pay $243.6 million to settle lawsuits by more than 200 women, some of them cancer patients, who alleged they were sexually abused by a former UCLA gynecologist.
The agreement, announced Tuesday, covers 203 former patients who have sued over the conduct of Dr. James Heaps. It comes on top of a $73-million class-action settlement involving more than 5,000 patients from 1983 to 2018.
The settlement does not cover more than 300 patients who are continuing to sue. Heaps is also facing criminal charges involving seven of those patients.
The settlement amounts to $1.2 million for each plaintiff, similar to one USC struck last year that paid $852 million to more than 700 women who accused school gynecologist George Tyndall of sexual abuse, said John Manly, a lawyer for the lead plaintiff in the Heaps case.
Keeping a running tab, that's 6,200 sexually abused women
by 2 university gynecologists. Astonishing!
and $1,168.6 billion and counting
And those are not counting the University of Michigan and Michigan State. That would be another billion dollars. Isn't it about time for a congressional investigation into this?
Some women who said they were abused by Heaps called the settlement a vindication after complaining about the doctor for years and seeing little done.
“Today, after eight long years, I received recognition of what happened to me,” said Kara Cagle, a breast cancer survivor who reported Heaps while she was undergoing treatment at the university. “Although there is some consolation in that, my heart breaks for all the women who were not spared, all the women who suffered after me, because UCLA refused to act. What happened to those women is on UCLA. UCLA will have to live with what they’ve done or, rather, didn’t do. Let today be a wake-up call to other institutions.”
Another patient, Julie Wallach, said she hoped the payout would bring changes to the way UCLA handles reports of abuse.
“This is long overdue. Twenty-four years ago, in 1998, I was referred to Dr. James Heaps at UCLA. At that time, Dr. Heaps sexually abused and assaulted me. I filed a complaint against him with the California Medical Board. I chased down the powers that be at UCLA, who oversaw Dr. Heaps. Nothing was done,” she said.
Heaps faces 21 felony counts — including sexual battery by fraud, sexual exploitation of a patient and sexual penetration of an unconscious person — involving several female patients. He could be sentenced to more than 67 years in prison if convicted of all charges. He has pleaded not guilty and insists he acted in an appropriate manner, his lawyer said.
“He adamantly maintains his innocence, and we are currently litigating the case in the court of appeal,” said Leonard Levine, Heaps’ criminal attorney, who said he has sought a writ to toss a grand jury indictment and dismiss the criminal case. Levine said Heaps is not a party to any of the civil settlements.
The settlement comes as some of Heaps’ patients who have late-stage cancer have given depositions so their lawsuits can continue after their deaths. The deal was struck in mediation, Manly said.
“This historic settlement allows these brave women to achieve their litigation goals of accountability and compensation, paving the path for their continued healing,” Manly said in confirming the settlement. “What this says is when two of the largest hospitals in our county both have long-term sexual predators practicing medicine, there is a problem in the systems. What my clients hope is UCLA and the entire UC system dramatically change their policies to address the issues here.”
In a statement announcing the settlement, UCLA denounced the doctor, saying: “The conduct alleged to have been committed by Heaps is reprehensible and contrary to the University’s values. Our first and highest obligation will always be to the communities we serve, and we hope this settlement is one step toward providing healing and closure for the plaintiffs involved. We admire the courage of the plaintiffs in coming forward and appreciate plaintiffs’ counsel’s commitment to resolving the claims.”
Since his initial arrest in June 2019, hundreds of women have come forward to allege that Heaps subjected them to sexually inappropriate comments, touched them sexually during exams without wearing gloves and simulated intercourse with an ultrasound probe.
The UC system has acknowledged that staff members received complaints about Heaps dating back to the 1990s, and even when it took a detailed report in 2017 and initiated investigations, it took a year for him to leave. UCLA made no public statements about Heaps’ alleged conduct upon his retirement in 2018, when the school declined to renew his contract.
UCLA notified law enforcement of the allegations against Heaps on June 14, 2018. He was arrested in June 2019 and charged with multiple counts of sexual battery involving two patients.
Heaps’ medical license was suspended in 2019 after he pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges, which have since been expanded to include seven alleged victims.
Manly said Tuesday that the UC system had little choice but to settle, given that its own investigation by a special committee revealed years of horrific oversight that allowed Heaps to remain despite repeated complaints.
That report found that UCLA’s handling of Heaps and four other doctors accused of misconduct was “at times either delayed or inadequate or both.” Heaps was affiliated with UCLA from 1983 to 2018 in a variety of roles, including as a faculty member at the medical school and a consulting physician at the student health center.
The report noted that his medical students complained on feedback forms that he was “very touchy,” “very inappropriate” and made “comments with innuendos.”
In 1999, a colleague in private practice, Michael Johnson, referred a patient to Heaps, and the woman informed Johnson about Heaps’ inappropriate exam technique and comments. The committee said UCLA was not aware of that complaint.
In 2014, Johnson was vice chair of UCLA’s obstetrics and gynecology department when an employee complained to him about Heaps’ inappropriate comments. Johnson did not report it. The same year, a patient complained about Heaps touching her during an exam, and Johnson was asked by the department chair to investigate the matter. Johnson found that “there must have been a misunderstanding,” according to the report.
Johnson never spoke to the victim but did consult with Heaps and even revised the wording on his conclusion to include more information from Heaps while saying he found no evidence of unprofessional or unethical conduct, the committee noted.
In 2017, a patient alleged to her regular gynecologist that Heaps unnecessarily and inappropriately touched her during an exam. Officials, including Dr. John Mazziotta, vice chancellor of UCLA Health, the school’s hospital and clinic network, knew of the complaint. But instead of formally removing Heaps during a Title IX investigation, the university asked him to take a vacation.
UCLA officials could have immediately removed Heaps from campus or restricted his practice while investigating the allegations, as allowed under University of California guidelines. They could have warned the campus community — which federal law requires if university officials decide that someone accused of sexual assault is a safety threat. They also could have encouraged other potential victims to step forward.
But UCLA Health administrators handling the complaint determined that it was not necessary to suspend Heaps in order to protect patients while the investigation proceeded, the report said.
Delaware Parents Buried Infant Daughter at Home After
She Died from Severe Malnutrition: Cops
ALBERTO LUPERON
Feb 13th, 2022, 1:52 pm
Angel Toran, and Ny’Jier Murphy
Parents never reported having a young girl, and then they murdered her within months through sheer neglect and buried her on their property, say police in Delaware. Angel Toran, 22, and Ny’Jier Murphy, 24, were arrested Thursday, according to state cops.
Officers said they responded on Oct. 10 to the couple’s home in the town of Magnolia. Members of the Division of Family Services joined them in checking on the welfare of a baby.
“DFS received information that an infant possibly died at home, and the death was unreported to authorities,” state police said. “When troopers initially arrived at the residence, Toran and Murphy were not home but arrived a short time later. When troopers contacted Murphy, a concealed Glock 19 model 9mm handgun was observed in a holster on his hip. A computer inquiry determined Murphy does not possess a permit for carrying a concealed deadly weapon in the State of Delaware.”
It turned out that Toran gave birth to a baby girl at home back in April 2021, but never reported this to the state, officers said. The child, whose name authorities did not release, died at five months old in the middle of September, cops said. Not only did no one report the death, but investigators determined the girl succumbed to severe malnourishment.
The state attorney general’s office filed charges. Both Toran and Murphy face a count of murder by abuse or neglect first-degree recklessly causing the death of a child, and conspiracy in the first degree. Murphy also faces a count of carrying a concealed deadly weapon.
“On February 10, 2022, Toran and Murphy responded to Delaware State Police Troop 3,” cops wrote. “As Ny’Jier Murphy was notified of his arrest warrant by troopers, he resisted arrest and was taken into custody after a brief struggle. Toran was arrested without incident.”
Local man Krupa Patel told Delaware Online that he watched the couple grow up.
“They are very nice kids, and their grandparents are very nice,” he said. “I was shocked when I read the report. I said, ‘No, they wouldn’t do that. Something’s not right.’ I don’t think they would let their baby starve.”
Toran was locked up on a $260,000 cash bail, and Murphy on $270,000.
Jury Takes 15 Minutes to Convict Miami Cop of Sexually Assaulting
Underage Family Member, 8, at Gunpoint
CHRIS SPARGO
Feb 11th, 2022, 12:54 pm 26
Braulio Gonzalez is facing at least 25 years in prison. (Mugshot via the Miami-Dade Police.)
A former lieutenant with the Miami-Dade Police Department accused of molesting an underage family member at gunpoint is now facing up to 48 years in prison after jurors convicted him on seven counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child and a single count of kidnapping.
Braulio Gonzalez, 47, did not have to wait long to learn his fate, either, as the jury returned with its verdict after just 15 minutes of deliberation on Thursday.
The disgraced cop’s arrest in 2018 came after one of the victims told her psychologist that Gonzalez sexually assaulted her when she was just eight years old. That minor female later told Child Protective Services employees that Gonzalez “would touch her vagina, breasts, and buttocks over and under her clothing.”
The alleged assaults happened for two years; prosecutors asserted that they started in 2011 and ended in 2013 when the victim turned 10. The kidnapping charge stems from Gonzalez’s alleged actions during what the jury agreed was his first encounter with one of the minors.
“She described being woken up and seeing the defendant pointing a firearm at her head,” said state court documents filed at the time of Gonzalez’s arrest. “The defendant told her that if she didn’t follow him, he would kill her sibling who was sleeping in the same bedroom on another bed.”
The victim said that threat got her moving, and it might explain why she waited so long to share her accusations with another person.
“The defendant led the victim to his bedroom, and she was told to lay down on his bed,” the document continued. “The defendant put on a movie and laid down next to the victim. He began rubbing her stomach, then fondled her breasts, vagina, and buttocks over her clothing. The defendant continued doing this over the next two years.”
Gonzalez’s lawyer worked out a deal that allowed him to await trial while under house arrest. The defendant continued to collect his taxpayer-funded salary even after his arrest, as his department opted to put him on paid leave.
Nine months after the indictment on those initial charges, another minor female came forward to accuse Gonzalez. According to court documents, the second victim accused Gonzalez of entering a bathroom and watching her shower when she was between the ages of 9 and 11.
This new information convinced a judge to send Gonzalez to jail ahead of trial. The defendant remains incarcerated today. He faces a minimum of 25 years in prison at his sentencing in April but could serve up to 48 years, depending on the judge’s decision.
The defendant maintained his innocence and said again on Thursday that he never molested either of his accusers. A lawyer for Gonzalez tells Law&Crime that he will be appealing the verdict.
As the Miami Herald first reported, police records show that Gonzalez allegedly assaulted other women before the charges that led to his conviction this week. Three of his ex-girlfriends claimed to have suffered severe injuries after Gonzalez reportedly attacked them, with one suffering a broken nose and another a broken arm, according to police records. Two of the woman claimed he pointed a firearm at them as well, those records show. Even after his superiors learned this information, he did not lose his job with the Miami-Dade police force, the documents indicate.
Good grief! The police commissioner has some questions to answer.
Schools Must Notify Parents of Sexually Explicit Material
under Virginia Bill That Passed Senate
Michael Foust |
ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor |
Friday, February 11, 2022
over the county's transgender policy. ChristianHeadlines.com
Schools would be required to show parents any sexually explicit content under a bill that passed the Virginia Senate and is endorsed by the state's new governor.
The bill, SB 656, requires the state Department of Education to develop a policy for public schools "ensuring parental notification of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content," according to the text. The phrase "sexually explicit content" uses a definition already in state law.
If parents object to the content, then their child would be given "nonexplicit instructional material" and "related academic activities," according to the bill's text.
The bill passed the state Senate, 20-18, and now moves to the state House. Democrats control the Senate, while Republicans control the House.
Passage was assured when two Democrats, Sens. Lynwood Lewis and Monty Mason, joined with Republicans.
School boards would have until Jan. 1, 2023, to implement the new law. The Department of Education would be required to develop policies by July 31, 2022.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin supports the bill.
Sen. Bill DeSteph, a Republican and a bill sponsor, said his goal is to give parents more tools in educating their children.
"I'm not trying to ban anything or burn anything – all I want to say is, let's let the parents say it's okay for their child to see this," he said.
The bill's text says it "shall not be construed as requiring or providing for the censoring of books in public elementary and secondary schools."
The issue was a central part of the 2020 gubernatorial campaign between Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe.
"What we've seen over the course of the last 20 months is our school systems refusing to engage with parents," Youngkin said during a debate before addressing McAuliffe. "... You believe school systems should tell children what to do. I believe parents should be in charge of their kids' education."
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