California physician assistant wins $168 million in harassment suit
Ani Chopourian told of sexually inappropriate conduct, bullying and
retaliation at a Sacramento hospital. The award is believed to be the
largest for a single victim of workplace harassment in U.S. history.
“I have never seen an environment so hostile and pervasive,” said
physician assistant Ani Chopourian of her experience at Sacramento’s
Mercy General Hospital, where she worked two years before being
fired. (News 10 / March 2, 2012) ALSO
By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times
March 2, 2012, 12:11 a.m.
Ani Chopourian lost track of how many complaints she filed during the
two years she worked as a physician assistant at Sacramento’s Mercy
General Hospital.
There were at least 18, she recalled, many having to do with the
bullying surgeon who once stabbed her with a needle and broke the ribs
of an anesthetized heart patient in a fit of rage. Another surgeon,
she said, would greet her each morning with “I’m horny” and slap her
bottom. Yet another called her “stupid chick” in the operating room
and made disparaging remarks about her Armenian heritage, asking if
she had joined Al Qaeda.
Managers from Mercy General, a unit of Catholic Healthcare West, told
a Sacramento trial court that it was Chopourian who was guilty of
professional misconduct, which was why they fired her and tried to
deny her unemployment benefits.
But in a stunning rebuke of the hospital’s side of the story, a jury
Wednesday awarded Chopourian $168 million in damages, believed to be
the largest judgment for a single victim of workplace harassment in
U.S. history.
“They were just shocked by the whole workplace environment,” said
Lawrance Bohm, Chopourian’s attorney during the three-week trial in
which witness after witness depicted a culture of vulgarity and
arrogance they said humiliated female employees and put patients at
risk.
Chopourian, 45, worked at four other hospitals in New England and
California before joining the cardiovascular surgical team at Mercy
General in August 2006. Two years later, she was fired days after
filing the last of her complaints about patient care and the doctors’
demeaning behavior.
Preening cardiac surgeons and locker-room humor weren’t unique to the
Sacramento hospital’s operating rooms or those at another Catholic
Healthcare West facility where she occasionally worked, Chopourian
said in an interview.
“But the environment at Mercy General, the sexually inappropriate
conduct and the patient care issues being ignored, the bullying and
intimidation and retaliation — I have never seen an environment so
hostile and pervasive,” said the Los Angeles native, who earned her
physician assistant credentials at the Yale School of Medicine in
1999.
The jurors in U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller’s courtroom
heard hospital administrators defend their management practices and
attest to unwavering commitment to quality patient care.
But the litany of abuses detailed by current and former employees
apparently swayed the jury to accept Chopourian’s allegations that
administrators put up with gross misbehavior in the cardiac unit to
stroke the surgeons’ outsize egos.
“Cardiac surgery brings in the most money for any hospital facility,
which is why they are willing to turn a blind eye to illegal and
inappropriate behavior,” Chopourian said. “We had four very strong
witnesses who were frightened to speak out but did so because they
felt it was important that someone put a stop to this.”
Bohm conceded that the record judgment – $125 million in punitive
damages and $42.7 million for lost wages and mental anguish – could be
reduced on appeal or in settlement talks to avoid what would probably
be a protracted challenge to the generous award. But he said he was
confident the jury’s judgment against the hospital chain would survive
appellate review.
Mercy General President Denny Powell said the hospital stood by its
decision to fire Chopourian and would appeal the verdict.
“We are disappointed by the jury’s decision. We are committed to
providing a safe working environment, free from sexual harassment and
inappropriate behavior,” Powell said in a statement issued
Thursday. “Any complaint is thoroughly investigated and prompt action
is taken. We do not believe that the facts support this verdict or
judgment.”
Catholic Healthcare West, which recently changed its name to Dignity
Health, operates 40 hospitals and care centers in California, Arizona
and Nevada.
[email protected]
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times