Authorities at a California university will pay nearly $250 million to women who were allegedly sexually assaulted by a dorm gynecologist.
Hundreds of women have accused the authorities at the University of Los Angeles of deliberately hiding the abuse of gynecologist James Heaps.
Hipps worked at the university's health center from 1983 to 2018.
Hundreds of women, some of whom had cancer, allege Hipps molested them and sued the university for inaction and covering up the cases.
The investigation at the university did not begin until 2017.
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In 2019, a court suspended his medical license, and the university administration agreed to pay the victims $250 million in damages.
University officials say they hope the financial settlement will bring "healing and some kind of end to the suffering" of the women who suffered the abuse.
Hipps, who faces 21 charges of sexually assaulting seven women, has pleaded not guilty.
"The conduct alleged to have been committed by Hipps is reprehensible and contrary to the values of the university," the University of Los Angeles said in a statement.
"Our first and foremost obligation will always be to protect the community we serve, and we hope this settlement is a step toward healing for victims of abuse," it added.
Kara Cagle, a cancer survivor who went to see Hipps when she was sick, tells the Los Angeles Times that it was only after eight long years that she realized what had happened to her.
"While I find solace in the closure of this case, my heart breaks for the women who were not spared, who suffered after me, because the University refused to act," she says.
According to attorneys, Heaps was once the highest-paid physician in the entire University of California system.
John K. Manley, an attorney representing one of the women who filed criminal charges against Hipps, claims the doctor was a "sophisticated predator" who abused female patients during routine medical examinations.
"He was a gynecologist and an oncologist. Most of the women came to him because they had cancer or thought they had cancer," Manley told the BBC.
The federal lawsuits allege that Hipps' conduct was not properly investigated until the university received a complaint in 2017.
He was allowed to continue seeing patients during the investigation, even after being told by the university that his contract would not be renewed.
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The latest payout follows a series of large settlements at other American universities over campus patient abuse.
Last month, the University of Michigan reached a $490 million settlement with more than 1.000 people who say the sports doctor abused them during his four-decade career.
Also, three women are suing another of the most prestigious American colleges - Harvard, because the authorities ignored their allegations of sexual harassment.
Professor John Komaroff, an anthropologist, denies their allegations that he kissed and groped them.
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