Just had a doctor's office gender discriminate me for employment. Anything I can do about it?

[noleknight16]

I was hired to become a scribe for a small doctor's office in early-mid May. This was done through a scribe company that sends scribes to hospitals and clinics. I wasn't hired directly by the clinic but I was hired to be placed there from the very beginning. The scribe company trained me for ~1 month and then said I was on stand by to go into the office.

Well one month passes and they didn't put me into the clinic; I just got a call today stating that "The (male) doctor only wanted a female scribe so we had to bump you off the list and put somebody else in". Keep in mind that this is not a female specialty clinic the male doctor is in and there's no other reason to have a gender preference than wanting a girl to look at instead of a male. They are trying to find me another location and that I may have to wait another couple months. This seems so unfair to me, but I have no idea what to do about it.

Well when I applied to medical school in June, I put on my AMCAS I was going to be scribing in the clinic and all I have done is my official training. If I go into interviews with minimal experience scribing, I think it will look badly upon me since I've been hired since May and there's nothing I can do about it!

Do I have any options? Is there anything I can do about the clinic gender discriminating against me? I have tried other scribe companies in the area with no success.

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[Goro]

I vaguely remember a recent court case where a woman was fired because she was, get this "too attractive" and the boss might be too excited by her. The woman sued and lost the case!

I can only say get lawyer and let the courts fight this out.

I was hired to become a scribe for a small doctor's office in early-mid May. This was done through a scribe company that sends scribes to hospitals and clinics. I wasn't hired directly by the clinic but I was hired to be placed there from the very beginning. The scribe company trained me for ~1 month and then said I was on stand by to go into the office.

Well one month passes and they didn't put me into the clinic; I just got a call today stating that "The (male) doctor only wanted a female scribe so we had to bump you off the list and put somebody else in". Keep in mind that this is not a female specialty clinic the male doctor is in and there's no other reason to have a gender preference than wanting a girl to look at instead of a male. They are trying to find me another location and that I may have to wait another couple months. This seems so unfair to me, but I have no idea what to do about it.

Well when I applied to medical school in June, I put on my AMCAS I was going to be scribing in the clinic and all I have done is my official training. If I go into interviews with minimal experience scribing, I think it will look badly upon me since I've been hired since May and there's nothing I can do about it!

Do I have any options? Is there anything I can do about the clinic gender discriminating against me? I have tried other scribe companies in the area with no success.

 

[tantacles]

Find a position in another field, and if asked, mention that immediately after your hire, the job fell through. This would also be a great time to mention your new job.

Do not mention gender discrimination at your interviews; it will get you nowhere.

 

[type12]

Terrible advice here. There could easily be a number of reasons the doctor could state for declining you as a scribe. And you have no proof this was the case aside form someone's "word" It's neither worth your time nor energy to fight this.

Don't get a lawyer, get smart and remember the people with more money win. The entire system is pretty corrupt, including med school admissions. This court case WILL show up on a background check, and you suing a doctor will make adcoms unfairly discriminate against you, especially if you win. They will hesitate to even interview you because they will assume you may sue them.

 

[kyamh]

You don't want to work for a person/place that doesn't want you there. Whether or not the situation is "right" you shouldn't put yourself in a potentially toxic environment for your own sake.

Frankly, I don't have a ton of sympathy - women deal with work discrimination all the time. As a woman in a computational science field (our department journal clubs are ~18 men and 1 woman other than me), I deal with it every day...sometimes very explicitly.

Unfortunately, this is the world we live in and the only way to move forward is to open your eyes and be the change you want to see. Use this experience to grow from it as a man in this world. Do no discriminate against gender groups/races/ethnicities/religious groups/etc when you are the one in charge. Speak up against discrimination when you are in a position of power.

 

[noleknight16]

I vaguely remember a recent court case where a woman was fired because she was, get this "too attractive" and the boss might be too excited by her. The woman sued and lost the case!

I can only say get lawyer and let the courts fight this out.

How will this come across interview wise if I get asked about my scribe job? Should I go into all the details or just say im fully trained and hired but they havent given me a permanent position yet?

 

[kyamh]

How will this come across interview wise if I get asked about my scribe job? Should I go into all the details or just say im fully trained and hired but they havent given me a permanent position yet?

They may never ask about your scribe job. Don't go into details, just say that you were hired by the company but that a permanent placement has not been found yet. Also, you are unlikely to go on interviews for another month or two, so there is plenty of time to be placed elsewhere. You also have to entertain the possibility that scribing may not work out.

 

[Goro]

If you haven't done any scribing, should you call yourself a scribe?

How will this come across interview wise if I get asked about my scribe job? Should I go into all the details or just say im fully trained and hired but they havent given me a permanent position yet?

 

[The Buff OP]

I was hired to become a scribe for a small doctor's office in early-mid May. This was done through a scribe company that sends scribes to hospitals and clinics. I wasn't hired directly by the clinic but I was hired to be placed there from the very beginning. The scribe company trained me for ~1 month and then said I was on stand by to go into the office.

Well one month passes and they didn't put me into the clinic; I just got a call today stating that "The (male) doctor only wanted a female scribe so we had to bump you off the list and put somebody else in". Keep in mind that this is not a female specialty clinic the male doctor is in and there's no other reason to have a gender preference than wanting a girl to look at instead of a male. They are trying to find me another location and that I may have to wait another couple months. This seems so unfair to me, but I have no idea what to do about it.

Well when I applied to medical school in June, I put on my AMCAS I was going to be scribing in the clinic and all I have done is my official training. If I go into interviews with minimal experience scribing, I think it will look badly upon me since I've been hired since May and there's nothing I can do about it!

Do I have any options? Is there anything I can do about the clinic gender discriminating against me? I have tried other scribe companies in the area with no success.

This sucks, bro. Something like this has happen to me before. I couldn't really prove it, but I'm sure I didn't get hired because I gave this mean big guy look, keep in mind these jobs were in the health and fitness industry.

 

[tantacles]

How will this come across interview wise if I get asked about my scribe job? Should I go into all the details or just say im fully trained and hired but they havent given me a permanent position yet?

It will come across just fine as long as you stay away from the reason the job fell through and literally just use the words, "The job fell through." Don't go into details; just get another job and be able to talk about it.

 

[noleknight16]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Hopefully they can find me another position ASAP.

 

[deleted480308]

it doesn't need to be a female specialty for the male doctor to want a female employee available as a chaperone...it's annoying, but it is what it is

 

[Gauss44]

Call a lawyer. Most will provide you with a free consultation where you explain your situation and they tell you if they can help and what the likely outcome will be. You can look one up here: http://www.martindale.com/Find-Lawyers-and-Law-Firms.aspx

Even if you don't want the job, it's worth calling a lawyer to learn what your options are. Gender discrimination cases sometimes are successful. It will depend on the details.

 

[DokterMom]

I don't imagine the scribe company actually put this in writing. And hypothetically, if you actually were to sue for employment discrimination, do you think they would actually agree to testify against their [paying] client (the Dr.) to benefit [entirely disposable] you?

Sorry it happened OP but gender discrimination is an unfortunate fact of life. As a guy, you're 'lucky' (in a sense) to have actually seen it. Many guys find it hard to believe because they've never experienced it themselves.

 

[noleknight16]

It's not really worth it to me to get dragged into a legal battle over it. I was pondering filing a complaint against him with the state medical board though. Is that a good idea?

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

Not for nothing, but there are plenty of other reasons they could not just prefer a female, but NEED a female for the position.

I'm a male ER tech, and our policy at my hospital is that a FEMALE nursing assistant or tech must accompany any physician/resident into the room when doing any kind of OB examinations, or any examinations in general that require a female to disrobe. Sucks to always have to find a female to do this, but that's the policy.

Also, maybe they already have males working there, and need a female to be available when a patient feels uncomfortable with a male scribe in the room? Again, happens to me all the time at my job. Not every little old lady is open to the idea of having two males and no females in her room during an exam.

Just throwing out some ideas, but in my opinion you should just find another position and don't make too huge a deal over this, I don't think you'd win. My real world clinical experiences tell me the doctor would have plenty of reasonable excuses for this, assuming he doesn't just deny that being the reason from the get-go.

 

[deleted480308]

OP....if your brain is capable of surviving medical school, it is capable of understanding the OBGYN isn't the only specialty that a female patient might want a female employee available. You are a big boy, let this go. It's a scribe position not a senate seat.

 

[deleted480308]

I'll go a step farther...if I go private practice, my first employee will be female. And if I can at all make it happen, she will speak spanish. You have to staff to your needs as a business and if it's a male doc constantly closing doors that leave them alone with female patients, he's an idiot if he doesn't want a female scribe.

 

[235009]

It's not really worth it to me to get dragged into a legal battle over it. I was pondering filing a complaint against him with the state medical board though. Is that a good idea?

Get over yourself and move on. I can't believe @Goro suggested getting a lawyer. That's a terrible idea! You have zero evidence to back up your accusation and shouldn't be ruffling feathers in the medical community willy nilly when you're a premed.

 

[el_duderino]

I see no reason for a lawsuit here. This is a medical practice where gender actually matters in the course of daily duties.

 

[noleknight16]

I am a bit surprised by the antagonizing responses. To clarify, I am coming here for advice with an open mind. If filing a complaint (not a lawsuit) with the state medical board is a bad idea, then believe me I won't do it.

If it helps with advice, the other scribe at the clinic is a female. So if any issues did arise with a gender preference from a patient, we could theoretically switch.

 

[deleted480308]

I am a bit surprised by the antagonizing responses. To clarify, I am coming here for advice with an open mind. If filing a complaint (not a lawsuit) with the state medical board is a bad idea, then believe me I won't do it.

If it helps with advice, the other scribe at the clinic is a female. So if any issues did arise with a gender preference from a patient, we could theoretically switch.

but for some reason (likely consistency) the doc doesn't want to have to switch scribes in the middle of a shift. I wouldn't deal with the switching option if I was the attending. This is a minor blip in life, you'll be fine.

 

[el_duderino]

IMO this is not something worth pursuing. Move on.

 

[Greenberg702]

OP....if your brain is capable of surviving medical school, it is capable of understanding the OBGYN isn't the only specialty that a female patient might want a female employee available. You are a big boy, let this go. It's a scribe position not a senate seat.

You're absolutely right although personally, I think that it's a travesty that medicine isn't a gender-blind profession. You shouldn't need to be female in order for employers to think you can connect with women regarding their health issues (and vice versa for women --> men).

 

[touchpause13]

You're absolutely right although personally, I think that it's a travesty that medicine isn't a gender-blind profession. You shouldn't need to be female in order for employers to think you can connect with women regarding their health issues (and vice versa for women --> men).

So you have no idea why a female patient might not be comfortable being examined alone by a male?

 

[Greenberg702]

So you have no idea why a female patient might not be comfortable being examined alone by a male?

Uhh I said that I agreed with his conclusion and thus understand why. I said that it's a travesty that it has come to this. A congratulatory pat on the back can be considered sexual harassment these days.
In other countries, a doctor isn't seen as "male or female" as weird as that sounds. A physician is a physician and has probably seen their fair share of genitalia. We're all the same after all.

 

[MangoPlant]

I wonder how the responses would be different if a female doctor refused a female scribe in favor of a male scribe.

 

[touchpause13]

Uhh I said that I agreed with his conclusion and thus understand why. I said that it's a travesty that it has come to this. A congratulatory pat on the back can be considered sexual harassment these days.
In other countries, a doctor isn't seen as "male or female" as weird as that sounds. A physician is a physician and has probably seen their fair share of genitalia. We're all the same after all.

Still not getting the point. You haven't really acknowledged the needs of the patient....

 

[deleted480308]

I wonder how the responses would be different if a female doctor refused a female scribe in favor of a male scribe.

mine wouldn't be, but I can't speak for others...

 

[Greenberg702]

Still not getting the point. You haven't really acknowledged the needs of the patient....

Pretty sure I am. I'm saying that I don't see having a physician of the exact same gender, race, socioeconomic status, and birth place as a "need." If this need stems from the fact that women are afraid of sexual harassment on the part of male physicians, then we've reached a low point. You don't think that half of the population fundamentally mistrusting the majority of the physician workforce purely on the basis of their gender is disappointing?

 

[DrBowtie]

Pretty sure I am. I'm saying that I don't see having a physician of the exact same gender, race, socioeconomic status, and birth place as a "need." If this need stems from the fact that women are afraid of sexual harassment on the part of male physicians, then we've reached a low point. You don't think that half of the population fundamentally mistrusting the majority of the physician workforce purely on the basis of their gender is disappointing?

It's not really even about the patient. It's a purely risk management strategy.

 

[theseeker4]

So you have no idea why a female patient might not be comfortable being examined alone by a male?

Keep in mind the chaperone isn't there just to protect the patient. If a patient makes an unfounded complaint, the physician being alone with the patient will have no defense, and having a male chaperone won't be seen as favorably as having a female chaperone. As a future physician, I know I won't do anything improper with a patient, male or female, but having a chaperone protects me, as well as providing comfort to the patient.

 

[allantois]

This sounds like an excellent story to go on Judge Judy's court

 

[noleknight16]

but for some reason (likely consistency) the doc doesn't want to have to switch scribes in the middle of a shift. I wouldn't deal with the switching option if I was the attending. This is a minor blip in life, you'll be fine.

Whenever I read your posts, its always in a Ron Swanson voice. Thanks for the advice, you are right that it is a small blip in the big picture.

 

[235009]

You're absolutely right although personally, I think that it's a travesty that medicine isn't a gender-blind profession. You shouldn't need to be female in order for employers to think you can connect with women regarding their health issues (and vice versa for women --> men).

Uhh I said that I agreed with his conclusion and thus understand why. I said that it's a travesty that it has come to this. A congratulatory pat on the back can be considered sexual harassment these days.
In other countries, a doctor isn't seen as "male or female" as weird as that sounds. A physician is a physician and has probably seen their fair share of genitalia. We're all the same after all.

Pretty sure I am. I'm saying that I don't see having a physician of the exact same gender, race, socioeconomic status, and birth place as a "need." If this need stems from the fact that women are afraid of sexual harassment on the part of male physicians, then we've reached a low point. You don't think that half of the population fundamentally mistrusting the majority of the physician workforce purely on the basis of their gender is disappointing?

i'm just going to leave this here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/us/johns-hopkins-settlement-190-million.html?_r=0

 

[Greenberg702]

Keep in mind the chaperone isn't there just to protect the patient. If a patient makes an unfounded complaint, the physician being alone with the patient will have no defense, and having a male chaperone won't be seen as favorably as having a female chaperone. As a future physician, I know I won't do anything improper with a patient, male or female, but having a chaperone protects me, as well as providing comfort to the patient.

For sure. This wasn't just about requiring a chaperone though. It was about women fundamentally preferring female physicians.

 

[Greenberg702]

i'm just going to leave this here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/us/johns-hopkins-settlement-190-million.html?_r=0

Horrific. It's people like this who create blanket mistrust and weaken the physician-patient relationship between male physicians and female patients.

 

[touchpause13]

Pretty sure I am. I'm saying that I don't see having a physician of the exact same gender, race, socioeconomic status, and birth place as a "need." If this need stems from the fact that women are afraid of sexual harassment on the part of male physicians, then we've reached a low point. You don't think that half of the population fundamentally mistrusting the majority of the physician workforce purely on the basis of their gender is disappointing?

For some people it is a need though, as in religious reasons or due to the patients own history.
And it's not like being afraid of harassment or assault is unwarranted, as the link MeatTornado provided shows- this stuff does happen.

I do understand that it's mostly for risk management tho.

 

[Greenberg702]

For some people it is a need though, as in religious reasons or due to the patients own history.
And it's not like being afraid of harassment or assault is unwarranted, as the link MeatTornado provided shows- this stuff does happen.

I do understand that it's mostly for risk management tho.

I understand that in certain specific cases, these kinds of wishes should and can reasonably be honored. However, patient requests also need to be balanced out with physician training needs and available resources. I remember when a patient came into the Brigham and flat out stated that "no residents, medical students, or trainees of any kind are to be involved in any of my care." Luckily the attending shot back that if they wanted to receive care at a state-of-the-art teaching hospital, they would have to accept some supervised trainee involvement and if they didn't like it, they should go to a community hospital. I know that some female urologists who get scoffed at because of their gender also fire back, saying that they were the physician on the service. I don't see why male OB residents/attendings can't do the same thing (obviously having a chaperone is a reasonable request).

 

[Plecopotamus]

It's not really worth it to me to get dragged into a legal battle over it. I was pondering filing a complaint against him with the state medical board though. Is that a good idea?

NO. As has already been mentioned (and ignored by you) is tha in all medical fields there are times when a physician requires a chaperone of the same gender as the patient. It thus becomes necessary to have an employee who can full this role. Depending on the nature of his patient population, he may conversely be concerned about being at risk if you're in the room unattended or that a young man's presence might inhibit patients' ability to be candid. It is kindest to the patient to only have 1 extra person in the room, not a chaperone and a scribe. Google the term "Bona fide occupational qualifications" and you will find there are circumstances when it's acceptable to gender discriminate . . . you can't really prove this isn't one of them. Also, you'd have a really hard time if he has other male employees (maybe he needs a female scribe, b/c there are shifts when the nurse is male).

Logistically, you're an employee of the scribe agency, not the physician. He didn't actually engage in hiring you, the scribing company did, no?

 

[Leslie_Knope]

I wouldn't really call this discrimination. It's just an unlucky break for you. And a learning experience. I would dust off and move on.

 

[noleknight16]

I would really call this discrimination. It's just an unlucky break for you. And a learning experience. I would dust off and move on.

 

[Instatewaiter]

I was hired to become a scribe for a small doctor's office in early-mid May. This was done through a scribe company that sends scribes to hospitals and clinics. I wasn't hired directly by the clinic but I was hired to be placed there from the very beginning. The scribe company trained me for ~1 month and then said I was on stand by to go into the office.

Well one month passes and they didn't put me into the clinic; I just got a call today stating that "The (male) doctor only wanted a female scribe so we had to bump you off the list and put somebody else in". Keep in mind that this is not a female specialty clinic the male doctor is in and there's no other reason to have a gender preference than wanting a girl to look at instead of a male. They are trying to find me another location and that I may have to wait another couple months. This seems so unfair to me, but I have no idea what to do about it.

Well when I applied to medical school in June, I put on my AMCAS I was going to be scribing in the clinic and all I have done is my official training. If I go into interviews with minimal experience scribing, I think it will look badly upon me since I've been hired since May and there's nothing I can do about it!

Do I have any options? Is there anything I can do about the clinic gender discriminating against me? I have tried other scribe companies in the area with no success.

I can't believe they didn't hire you because from this post it sounds like you have no testicles. What you can do about not getting the job:

Please grow a pair of testicles and sack the **** up. Jesus Christ. Really... gender discrimination. Really?