Surgical tech sues Yale-New Haven Hospital surgeon after OR altercation — 5 key notes

Practice Management

A surgical technician is suing the surgeon who allegedly hit him in the operating room during a 2014 pediatric brain surgery, according to a Connecticut Law Tribune report.

Here are five key notes on the suit:

 

1. The surgical technician claims the head surgeon elbowed him multiple times and hit him while performing surgery on a seven-year-old patient. The technician asked the surgeon "what he was doing" and then a nurse advised the technician to step back so another technician could relieve him, according to the report.

 

2. The incident occurred at Yale-New Haven Hospital and the technician raised the incident to the director of perioperative services and patient services manager for perioperative services, but was rebuked.

 

3. The CEO, vice president of compliance and chief of staff at the hospital were alerted about the incident. The surgical tech was told the hospital would investigate the incident before taking a leave of absence. The surgical technician was fired in July of 2014 because his leave of absence paperwork "was not in order," according to the report.

 

4. The surgical technician filed a lawsuit on Feb. 5 claiming discrimination — he is black — and reporting the surgeon verbally assaulted and threatened other minority workers, according to the report.

 

5. The surgical tech reported the incident to the Commission on Human Rights and opportunities and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; the hospital reported the surgical tech displayed inappropriate behavior during surgery.

 

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