LOS ANGELES — The University of California system agreed Tuesday to settle lawsuits brought by hundreds of alleged victims of a former UCLA gynecologist, bringing total litigation payouts to nearly $700 million, the largest ever reached related to sexual abuse involving a public university.
The latest $374.4 million in settlements covers 312 former patients who sued alleging they were abused by Dr. James Heaps under the guise of medical examinations between 1983 and 2018.
Given that Heaps specialized in cancer treatment, some plaintiffs were cancer patients and a handful had late-stage cancers with a terminal diagnosis. One of those women died before the settlement was approved by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Tuesday.
