The statement from the hospital, one of the nation’s leading academic centers of medicine and a large community health care provider, added: “We assure you that one individual does not define Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins is defined by the tens of thousands of employees who come to work determined to provide world-class care for our patients and their families.”

Image Dr. Nikita Levy was fired in February 2013.

Initially, the hospital identified nearly 12,700 patients Dr. Levy might have seen in his 25 years as an employee. Investigators estimated that he began recording patients with tiny cameras hidden in a pen or a key fob around 2005.

“Words cannot describe how deeply sorry we are for all this has affected,” two top officials of Johns Hopkins wrote to former patients last year. “We are terribly sorry this has happened and for the distress you must be feeling.”

After Dr. Levy’s colleague reported him, hospital security officers confronted him in his office, and he turned over several cameras. A hospital statement at the time said that he was told to seek counseling and was escorted off the premises. Johns Hopkins contacted the Baltimore police and fired the doctor on Feb. 8, 2013.

Although law enforcement agencies concluded that Dr. Levy had not uploaded any of the images online or shared them with others, Mr. Schochor is not so sure. He cited retired F.B.I. experts whom he hired as consultants for the lawsuit. “I think there’s overwhelming probability” that Dr. Levy shared images, Mr. Schochor said.

His law firm, Schochor, Federico & Staton, which specializes in medical malpractice, interviewed about 2,000 former patients. He said many of the women described disturbances in work and their personal lives after learning of the recordings.

“There’s been a huge, devastating result to this whole thing,” Mr. Schochor said. “Many have had changes in their ability to focus, problems with sleeplessness. Some have had changes in their relationships with spouses and significant others.”