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A former surgical resident is suing the Johns Hopkins Hospital for $24 million, alleging he was unlawfully fired and then defamed after he accused officials of trying to cover up problems with the residency program.
Dr. Oscar K. Serrano was informed of his termination in April, days after a national accrediting agency came to the hospital to investigate an anonymous complaint that Serrano's superiors erroneously believed he wrote, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in Baltimore City Circuit Court.
Serrano's superiors told their colleagues and other hospitals Serrano was let go because of mental health problems, a charge denied in Serrano's lawsuit and by his lawyer.
"Even if we go to trial and win, there are always going to be people as a result of this think he is mentally ill, and there is zero basis for that," said Andrew D. Levy of Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP in Baltimore.
Hopkins spokesman David March wrote in an e-mail that hospital officials had not seen the complaint and could not comment.
"However, we believe our interactions with Dr. Serrano were appropriate," March wrote.
Unfiltered survey
Serrano is also suing Dr. Pamela A. Lipsett, director of the general surgery residency program, and Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag, chief of surgery, among other individuals.
He alleges that in spring 2008, Lipsett and the administrative chief resident (who is not a defendant) attempted to coach surgical residents as they responded to a survey from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
The survey is designed to gather unfiltered information from residents to ensure compliance with ACGME standards on working conditions and practical experience.
"Any negative feedback from ACGME generally requires a program to reform some aspect of the program and reflects badly on the individuals in charge of the program, such as Dr. Lipsett and Dr. Freischlag," the lawsuit states.
Serrano, who had been elected to a leadership position on a resident committee by his peers, objected to "what appeared to be the administration's effort to cover up the existing problems within the residency program," the lawsuit states.
There were at least five problems within the surgical residency program at the time of the ACGME survey, including residents working more than the maximum number of weekly hours allowed, fearing retaliation for speaking up, and not being allowed to handle a sufficient number of surgical procedures, the lawsuit states.
The anonymous resident complaint prompted a visit to Hopkins by ACGME officials earlier this year. The accrediting agency recently informed the hospital its surgery residency program has been reaccredited, March wrote.
Hopkins 24/7
Serrano, 30, was in the third year of his eight-year joint general surgery residency and Ph.D. program at Hopkins when he was fired, Levy said.
Serrano received "excellent" evaluations during his two years of clinical residency and was the only first-year resident asked to appear on "Hopkins 24/7," an ABC News documentary about the hospital, the lawsuit states. During his second year, Serrano also was featured in a hospital-wide United Way campaign for the surgery department, again the only resident asked to appear, the lawsuit states.
After Lipsett and Freischlag fired Serrano on April 10 for performance reasons, Freischlag announced at a faculty meeting that Serrano was "undergoing counseling and was mentally ill," when in fact he was undergoing counseling only at Lipsett's insistence and his evaluators found no mental disorder, the complaint says.
Serrano, whose family emigrated from Mexico when he was in elementary school, was "heavily recruited" by surgical residency programs upon graduating from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2006, according to the lawsuit. He chose Hopkins because it promised him five years of clinical training and several years of research of his choosing, according to the lawsuit.
Serrano wanted to get a Ph.D. in immunology while working under a researcher investigating pancreatic cancer, one of his primary medical interests, the complaint says.
Serrano accepted the pancreatic cancer research position during his second year, but the offer was rescinded after Lipsett told the primary researcher about Serrano's alleged mental health problems, he alleges.
News of Serrano's alleged mental health problems subsequently cost Serrano other potential research positions as well as a job moonlighting at another local hospital, the complaint states.
The lawsuit seeks more than $10 million in compensatory damages and $13 million in punitive damages.
Levy said Serrano is working part-time at another local hospital.
"He's trying to figure out what he wants to do next year," Levy said. "He needs to get out of surgery and see if he can begin things again in another department."
http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?category=2&page=1&id=12257&type=UTTM
Comment: I am not at Hopkins and don't know any more about this than is published in the article.
Residency is an interesting situation - it's a holdover from the guild system. On the one hand, you typically only need a 1 year internship to be eligible to sit for Step 3 which will provide you with credentials for permanent licensure as a physician. This mints "general practitioners" - the norm in the old, old days. However these days, from what I have seen, that often doesn't get you insurance credentials and therefore it is difficult to find work if you are not "BC/BE".
It seems to me that there are some wannabe Napoleonistic dictators who are residency program directors and who enjoy hazing and intimidating new docs and recent grads. IMHO some have gotten away with it for years. However I have never met Dr. Serrano or been to Hopkins so I cannot speak from experience about what the truth is there.
Dr. Oscar K. Serrano was informed of his termination in April, days after a national accrediting agency came to the hospital to investigate an anonymous complaint that Serrano's superiors erroneously believed he wrote, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in Baltimore City Circuit Court.
Serrano's superiors told their colleagues and other hospitals Serrano was let go because of mental health problems, a charge denied in Serrano's lawsuit and by his lawyer.
"Even if we go to trial and win, there are always going to be people as a result of this think he is mentally ill, and there is zero basis for that," said Andrew D. Levy of Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP in Baltimore.
Hopkins spokesman David March wrote in an e-mail that hospital officials had not seen the complaint and could not comment.
"However, we believe our interactions with Dr. Serrano were appropriate," March wrote.
Unfiltered survey
Serrano is also suing Dr. Pamela A. Lipsett, director of the general surgery residency program, and Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag, chief of surgery, among other individuals.
He alleges that in spring 2008, Lipsett and the administrative chief resident (who is not a defendant) attempted to coach surgical residents as they responded to a survey from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
The survey is designed to gather unfiltered information from residents to ensure compliance with ACGME standards on working conditions and practical experience.
"Any negative feedback from ACGME generally requires a program to reform some aspect of the program and reflects badly on the individuals in charge of the program, such as Dr. Lipsett and Dr. Freischlag," the lawsuit states.
Serrano, who had been elected to a leadership position on a resident committee by his peers, objected to "what appeared to be the administration's effort to cover up the existing problems within the residency program," the lawsuit states.
There were at least five problems within the surgical residency program at the time of the ACGME survey, including residents working more than the maximum number of weekly hours allowed, fearing retaliation for speaking up, and not being allowed to handle a sufficient number of surgical procedures, the lawsuit states.
The anonymous resident complaint prompted a visit to Hopkins by ACGME officials earlier this year. The accrediting agency recently informed the hospital its surgery residency program has been reaccredited, March wrote.
Hopkins 24/7
Serrano, 30, was in the third year of his eight-year joint general surgery residency and Ph.D. program at Hopkins when he was fired, Levy said.
Serrano received "excellent" evaluations during his two years of clinical residency and was the only first-year resident asked to appear on "Hopkins 24/7," an ABC News documentary about the hospital, the lawsuit states. During his second year, Serrano also was featured in a hospital-wide United Way campaign for the surgery department, again the only resident asked to appear, the lawsuit states.
After Lipsett and Freischlag fired Serrano on April 10 for performance reasons, Freischlag announced at a faculty meeting that Serrano was "undergoing counseling and was mentally ill," when in fact he was undergoing counseling only at Lipsett's insistence and his evaluators found no mental disorder, the complaint says.
Serrano, whose family emigrated from Mexico when he was in elementary school, was "heavily recruited" by surgical residency programs upon graduating from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2006, according to the lawsuit. He chose Hopkins because it promised him five years of clinical training and several years of research of his choosing, according to the lawsuit.
Serrano wanted to get a Ph.D. in immunology while working under a researcher investigating pancreatic cancer, one of his primary medical interests, the complaint says.
Serrano accepted the pancreatic cancer research position during his second year, but the offer was rescinded after Lipsett told the primary researcher about Serrano's alleged mental health problems, he alleges.
News of Serrano's alleged mental health problems subsequently cost Serrano other potential research positions as well as a job moonlighting at another local hospital, the complaint states.
The lawsuit seeks more than $10 million in compensatory damages and $13 million in punitive damages.
Levy said Serrano is working part-time at another local hospital.
"He's trying to figure out what he wants to do next year," Levy said. "He needs to get out of surgery and see if he can begin things again in another department."
http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?category=2&page=1&id=12257&type=UTTM
Comment: I am not at Hopkins and don't know any more about this than is published in the article.
Residency is an interesting situation - it's a holdover from the guild system. On the one hand, you typically only need a 1 year internship to be eligible to sit for Step 3 which will provide you with credentials for permanent licensure as a physician. This mints "general practitioners" - the norm in the old, old days. However these days, from what I have seen, that often doesn't get you insurance credentials and therefore it is difficult to find work if you are not "BC/BE".
It seems to me that there are some wannabe Napoleonistic dictators who are residency program directors and who enjoy hazing and intimidating new docs and recent grads. IMHO some have gotten away with it for years. However I have never met Dr. Serrano or been to Hopkins so I cannot speak from experience about what the truth is there.
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