A Massachusetts interventional radiologist recently sued Boston Medical Center, claiming she witnessed a pattern of gender discrimination leading up to her dismissal in December.
Susan Kiernan O’Horo, MD, alleged that as director of quality in IR, she repeatedly complained about one junior attending physician who made mistakes such as performing a biopsy on the wrong site. However, those pleas fell on deaf ears, with BMC failing to report any errors to the state’s department of public health. She was later allegedly stripped of her duties and effectively terminated, the Boston Business Journal reported Friday.
“Concerns should be considered carefully regardless of whether they are raised by men or women,” Attorney Lisa Arrowood told the publication. “Here, Dr. O’Horo believes that, at least in part, why BMC ignored her concerns is because she was a woman and the only woman in her department.”
For its part, New England’s largest safety-net hospital disputed that O’Horo was the only IR in her division and called her claims “baseless.” BMC also defended its record on safety, noting that a state survey stemming from the physician’s allegations found no deficiencies. Its leaders are committed to a culture “free from bias, discrimination, and harassment of any shape or form,” a spokeswoman said.
“The hospital does not tolerate any kind of retaliation against an employee or medical staff member who raises a concern,” she told the journal.
O’Horo additionally alleged that male colleagues received career opportunities and schedule changes that she did not, all while often belittling and dismissing her concerns. You can read more about the complaint, filed Dec. 29 in U.S. District Court, below.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.