Hinsdale Doctor Faces Sexual Assault Suit

HINSDALE, IL — A gynecologist from Hinsdale is being accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting an employee while performing a laser hair removal on her. Dr. Samuel Botros denies the allegations in response to the lawsuit, saying a thorough police investigation resulted in no charges.

The 30-year-old single mother is only identified as "Jane Doe" in the lawsuit, which was filed last summer in DuPage County Circuit Court. She is represented by Chicago attorneys Tamara Holder and Johanna Raimond. Holder is a well-known lawyer who worked as a Fox News host.

Botros is a obstetrician-gynecologist at the Med Spa Women's Health Center in Bloomingdale. Property tax records show that his house is in Hinsdale. According to the lawsuit, he has been a doctor in Illinois since 2007.

On May 8, 2013, Botros delivered the woman's baby at a hospital in Elk Grove Village, according to the lawsuit. After a May 2017 gynecological exam, the woman was asked to speak with Botros and the office manager in his office. He asked the woman if she wanted to be a part-time laser tech at Med Spa, even though she had no experience, the lawsuit said. She took the job.

In June 2017, Botros performed a a laser hair removal treatment on the woman's underarms and bikini area, the lawsuit said. At the end of the treatment, according to the litigation, the doctor sexually assaulted her. When she asked, "What are you doing?," Botros then apologized, the lawsuit said.

When she returned for her next scheduled day of work, she was assigned to days when Botros was not in the office or had limited hours, the lawsuit alleges.

About a year later, the woman took a vacation to Poland and when she returned a few weeks later, she was told that Botros had replaced her, the lawsuit said. Botros responded in court documents that she did not follow the time-off policy and was told she could not take off for a month without finding a suitable replacement.

The lawsuit said she immediately started to undergo therapy after her termination and that she has been diagnosed with psychological conditions as a result of the assault. She has since filed reports with the police and the state Department of Human Rights. Both investigations remain open, the lawsuit asserts.

In Botros' response, his attorney, Mike Slovis, wrote that the doctor denied the characterization of the timing and the stage of both investigations. "Mrs. Doe's police report resulted in no charges after thorough investigation," Slovis wrote.

Attorneys for both sides did not comment on the litigation. They are under a court-imposed gag order, which was issued at Slovis' request.

The woman's attorneys are fighting the gag order, and a hearing is expected early next month. The judge imposed the order after Slovis filed an affidavit saying the woman's lawyers would go to the press if mediation were unsuccessful.

In court documents, Slovis said that while the woman has decided to proceed anonymously in the case, Holder has published a blog post on her website about it. Botros has been "reputationally harmed" by the post.

"Further dissemination by the plaintiff or her counsel of this case through media will prejudice potential jurors and cause further reputational damage to (Botros)," Slovis wrote.

In court documents, he said Botros has conducted more than 2,000 infant deliveries and more than 1,000 surgeries, building his practice on word-of-mouth referral and delivery of compassionate care to his patients.

"Mrs. Doe's decision to tell third parties that Dr. Botros sexually assaulted her, while knowing that such (an) accusation was false, was extreme and outrageous conduct," Slovis said in the documents.

The woman's lawyers said an agreement between the parties mandated the discussions be confidential. Mediation, they said, is deemed by the legal profession as one of the safest places for court participants to air out differences.

The other side, the woman's lawyers said, "are not inept but they are unscrupulous. They have abused the integrity of the practice of law and the sanctity of the mediation process."