Anyone ever had an attending push them?

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Asteroid Body

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A familiar sdn tale: I've been on a rotation for the last few months with an attending who yells, verbally berates me, is quick to point out my mistakes, gives me more than the usual resident's share of work assignments, and is generally miserable to work with. Thirty or more emails per day, even when she is not the attending (although she is service chief) needing status updates on cases. It seems most other people at work have at least peripherally experienced her anger outbursts. She is sometimes overheard at work yelling at her husband or other family members on the phone. I'm not training in psychiatry, but mental illness such as personality disorder is definitely in my differential diagnosis as an explanation for her behavior. Maybe she has some complex personal/family issues going on, who knows. I figured I'd just suck it up for the short term and do my best to react professionally to whatever insults she would throw my way, and at least appear to be taking her feedback into consideration.

But, she recently confronted me in the hallway to ask about a case (it turned out to be another resident's case), which escalated to ranting and posturing about... well frankly after about two minutes into her monologue with her face centimeters from mine, I can hardly recall anything she actually said. I must have tuned her out. Realizing this was getting nowhere and we both needed to cool off, I stepped back from her, at which point she pushed me pretty hard for trying to get away. I told her that I thought pushing me was inappropriate. She then seemed to get even more angry, brought me into a room and shut the door, when she continued to berate me, and after nodding my head at her for a few minutes, I attempted to leave at which point she blocked me from the door, holding the door shut, insisting she finish her point. She pushed me away from the door. When she wasn't as close to the door, I eventually walked out, and she followed me down the hallway and continued yelling at me at my desk. This is all witnessed by various people at various times during the argument. Oh and by the way this was in academic offices in the main hospital but not anywhere near patients.

So far I haven't found any threads on sdn describing anything like this, but I'm sure there are some of you that have heard stories about hospital employees being physically aggressive, and I'm not talking about the circumstance of a surgeon hitting the hand of a resident surgeon who is fumbling up in the surgical field. This had nothing to do with a patient emergency. What was the outcome, did the person who reported the aggression have any negative consequences? I'm sure a lot of this stuff goes unreported.

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I would have called the police and hospital security immediately.
 
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Honestly, although it shook me up quite a bit, it is not as if I'm scared for my physical safety. I'm not going to file a police report or anything. However I am relatively certain that things will not get better with this attending, and not 100% sure she won't push me again, so I reported the incident to the chief's chief, and requested a change in service assignment. Still nervous that something bad will happen to me as a result.
 
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Honestly, although it shook me up quite a bit, it is not as if I'm scared for my physical safety. I'm not going to file a police report or anything. However I am relatively certain that things will not get better with this attending, and not 100% sure she won't push me again, so I reported the incident to the chief's chief, and requested a change in service assignment. Still nervous that something bad will happen to me as a result.
you're just leaving the next person to get pushed.....but it's your call
 
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Honestly, although it shook me up quite a bit, it is not as if I'm scared for my physical safety. I'm not going to file a police report or anything. However I am relatively certain that things will not get better with this attending, and not 100% sure she won't push me again, so I reported the incident to the chief's chief, and requested a change in service assignment. Still nervous that something bad will happen to me as a result.

Totally reasonable, but you gotta wonder if she is Jerry Sanduskyian it up at your institution and you simply are the first vicim brave enough to speak up.

She sounds like she is a loon, but unfortunately, she is in a position of power and can hurt you.

As long as your complaint is officially documented, you should be OK if suddenly your program decides to start targeting you for "academic reasons." The documentation will be handy in the event you need to have evidence of retaliation, which is actionable in court.

For now, keep your head down and hope for the best.
 
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A familiar sdn tale: I've been on a rotation for the last few months with an attending who yells, verbally berates me, is quick to point out my mistakes, gives me more than the usual resident's share of work assignments, and is generally miserable to work with. Thirty or more emails per day, even when she is not the attending (although she is service chief) needing status updates on cases. It seems most other people at work have at least peripherally experienced her anger outbursts. She is sometimes overheard at work yelling at her husband or other family members on the phone. I'm not training in psychiatry, but mental illness such as personality disorder is definitely in my differential diagnosis as an explanation for her behavior. Maybe she has some complex personal/family issues going on, who knows. I figured I'd just suck it up for the short term and do my best to react professionally to whatever insults she would throw my way, and at least appear to be taking her feedback into consideration.

But, she recently confronted me in the hallway to ask about a case (it turned out to be another resident's case), which escalated to ranting and posturing about... well frankly after about two minutes into her monologue with her face centimeters from mine, I can hardly recall anything she actually said. I must have tuned her out. Realizing this was getting nowhere and we both needed to cool off, I stepped back from her, at which point she pushed me pretty hard for trying to get away. I told her that I thought pushing me was inappropriate. She then seemed to get even more angry, brought me into a room and shut the door, when she continued to berate me, and after nodding my head at her for a few minutes, I attempted to leave at which point she blocked me from the door, holding the door shut, insisting she finish her point. She pushed me away from the door. When she wasn't as close to the door, I eventually walked out, and she followed me down the hallway and continued yelling at me at my desk. This is all witnessed by various people at various times during the argument. Oh and by the way this was in academic offices in the main hospital but not anywhere near patients.

So far I haven't found any threads on sdn describing anything like this, but I'm sure there are some of you that have heard stories about hospital employees being physically aggressive, and I'm not talking about the circumstance of a surgeon hitting the hand of a resident surgeon who is fumbling up in the surgical field. This had nothing to do with a patient emergency. What was the outcome, did the person who reported the aggression have any negative consequences? I'm sure a lot of this stuff goes unreported.

Report to your PD, hospital administration, and GME office immediately. If they need confirmation have anyone who witnessed this write some sort of report too. This is beyond unacceptable. Its one thing when attendings "yell" - yelling is sometimes inappropriate, sometimes it's really spirited speaking, it depends. But if this attending truly PHYSICALLY pushed you when you did the adult thing to try to get away, and then BLOCKED you for leaving, and then PUSHED you again, that is beyond unacceptable and I truly feel that person probably needs to be fired immediately. That is not acceptable, surgical field or not. That should probably also be reported to the board.
 
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I'm not going to file a police report or anything.
An incredibly stupid move on your part. It's not for your safety, its to cover your ass when she tries to claim something else happened. It's to give you some protection from this crazy person who still has a great deal of power and control over your life. You need a paper trail of her actual abuse, or you are spinning your wheels on this one.

so I reported the incident to the chief's chief, and requested a change in service assignment.

Reported it how? Just talked to him about it? Where is the documentation. You need a paper trail. This is legal CYA basics 101.

Still nervous that something bad will happen to me as a result.

A lot of that could've been mitigated if you'd done the sensible thing and filed a police report immediately. The police would've asked the witnesses who were there go on the record shortly after the incident while its fresh, etc.


Now you are leaving literally everything up to the powers-that-be at the hospital without any 3rd-party (police) documentation. Sorry to pile on your misery but halfway through your post I was already face-palming once I figured out you played this completely the wrong way. You should know the importance of good documentation by now my friend.
 
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hostile work environment case brewing.... pm me and i can tell you why
 
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Do all you can to have her fired. She's unfit for the profession of medicine and needs to be removed.
 
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OK I've read the comments and am now considering making a police report. This happened about 36 hours ago, and since then I have spoken to two supervisors, one who excused me from duties for the rest of Friday. I did email him with a brief description of physically aggressive behavior and requested a transfer of service, but I will not be expected to return to work until Monday, and have not yet heard back from him in writing. He did, in our conversation, acknowledge that this attending has a history of bullying behavior with HER boss and offered to "talk to her" so that she would stop the yelling. The second supervisor cautioned me that I'm "not in a good place to start litigating," and said he would have to talk to her to get her side of the story.

I see your point about having 3rd party documentation of ALL the details and witnesses as being a good idea to have on hand in case her story is different. Most definitely, as she has in the past, she will attempt justify her yelling by saying that I have been making mistakes at work, although it will be hard for her to pin anything specific on me because I have done a good job of CYA for specific cases she tries to complain about. As I mentioned, she is very vigilant with the emails about cases and at times has blown up with short story essays about how I am the worst resident ever, cc'ing all the attendings on the service, but no serious mistakes actually materialize from her allegations and I have not been disciplined (other than her yelling). I have kept it incredibly cool and professional by email from my end.

I still worry that calling in the third parties to investigate while the internal investigation is still underway would antagonize the situation, but yes perhaps a police report is a good idea to have before I return to work, just in case, as documentation, without pressing charges. And yes, I am experiencing this weird emotional response of sympathizing with her and feeling guilty about the police report as if I'm the ***hole making the situation worse. As I mentioned, I wonder if the woman really does struggle with some sort of mental illness and she clearly has a crappy life at home.
 
There should be a compliance or similar hospital number you could call. Most hospitals have a strict non harrassment policy. If the attending doesn't shape up, he could get fired.
 
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The role of the hospital and HR and everyone at the hospital is to protect themselves and to protect the hospital, not to protect you. It may be a good idea to make copies of all your emails and past evals before anyone goes through them and deletes them or blocks your access. I agree with finding a neutral third party to investigate and document what happened. Do you have a resident Union or rep? This attending has a lot more power than you and sounds like is already CC'ing other attendings complaining about your work performance so there is already a paper trail making you look incompetent. It's not a far stretch to imagine you being disciplined for poor work performance.

A person of power at your work place pushed you and blocked you from leaving a hostile situation. Sounds like this person wouldn't give a second thought to ruining your work environment, sullying your good name, or getting you kicked out of the program. Protect yourself and good luck. Sorry you have to go through this
 
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doesnt always happen that uncommonly. ive definitely not been teh victim of deliberate physical assault but some of the physical contact and verbal tirades are definitely not acceptable in anyother workplace except slavidency
 
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Alright guys. I have the police report in hand, made it clear to police I needed it for documentation purposes only and do not wish to press charges, they said it would take a few days before the assigned detective would call me back to me asking about witnesses, but unless I want to press criminal charges they are not likely to contact witnesses or the 'perpetrator.' I don't plan on disclosing this to anyone at work unless s*** hits the fan and I am disciplined/fired for this.

To those of you with criticisms of my initial reactions, remember that this person is a high-ranking attending within the department and those around her have obviously acknowledged and have tolerated her pattern of behavior up to this point. Yes of course I do not want anyone else to be harmed by her, nor do I want anyone else in any other program to suffer through this type of situation, which is why I posted to sdn to solicit advice and to describe my experiences so that others may learn from the outcome.
 
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OK I've read the comments and am now considering making a police report. This happened about 36 hours ago, and since then I have spoken to two supervisors, one who excused me from duties for the rest of Friday. I did email him with a brief description of physically aggressive behavior and requested a transfer of service, but I will not be expected to return to work until Monday, and have not yet heard back from him in writing. He did, in our conversation, acknowledge that this attending has a history of bullying behavior with HER boss and offered to "talk to her" so that she would stop the yelling. The second supervisor cautioned me that I'm "not in a good place to start litigating," and said he would have to talk to her to get her side of the story.

I see your point about having 3rd party documentation of ALL the details and witnesses as being a good idea to have on hand in case her story is different. Most definitely, as she has in the past, she will attempt justify her yelling by saying that I have been making mistakes at work, although it will be hard for her to pin anything specific on me because I have done a good job of CYA for specific cases she tries to complain about. As I mentioned, she is very vigilant with the emails about cases and at times has blown up with short story essays about how I am the worst resident ever, cc'ing all the attendings on the service, but no serious mistakes actually materialize from her allegations and I have not been disciplined (other than her yelling). I have kept it incredibly cool and professional by email from my end.

I still worry that calling in the third parties to investigate while the internal investigation is still underway would antagonize the situation, but yes perhaps a police report is a good idea to have before I return to work, just in case, as documentation, without pressing charges. And yes, I am experiencing this weird emotional response of sympathizing with her and feeling guilty about the police report as if I'm the ***hole making the situation worse. As I mentioned, I wonder if the woman really does struggle with some sort of mental illness and she clearly has a crappy life at home.

the yelling is not the problem...in the long run big deal...its the the laying of hands on you that is, frankly, a criminal act...

In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful, offensive or sexual contact.[1] It is a specific common law misdemeanor, although the term is used more generally to refer to any unlawful offensive physical contact with another person, and may be a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the circumstances. Battery was defined at common law as "any unlawful and or unwanted touching of the person of another by the aggressor, or by a substance put in motion by him."[2] In most cases, battery is now governed by statutes, and its severity is determined by the law of the specific jurisdiction.

no one should be intimidating not to file charges or make a report to the police (as it seems that the 2nd supervisor is doing). IF there is an internal investigation, great, but that should not mean that the police should not be involved.
 
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Alright guys. I have the police report in hand, made it clear to police I needed it for documentation purposes only and do not wish to press charges, they said it would take a few days before the assigned detective would call me back to me asking about witnesses, but unless I want to press criminal charges they are not likely to contact witnesses or the 'perpetrator.' I don't plan on disclosing this to anyone at work unless s*** hits the fan and I am disciplined/fired for this.

To those of you with criticisms of my initial reactions, remember that this person is a high-ranking attending within the department and those around her have obviously acknowledged and have tolerated her pattern of behavior up to this point. Yes of course I do not want anyone else to be harmed by her, nor do I want anyone else in any other program to suffer through this type of situation, which is why I posted to sdn to solicit advice and to describe my experiences so that others may learn from the outcome.
I'm still confused as to why you aren't pressing charges, but again, your life
 
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Because I have less than 3 months left in this program, and 2 weeks left on the rotation, job contract lined up, out of state license application pending...

And the cops in my town, depending on your jurisdiction and the one taking the report, will be relatively unimpressed with a report of "pushing" considering the other more violent assault cases in their queue. It helped that I framed it as "I just need this for documentation mostly, and I realize you probably deal with much more serious threats of violence, but I just feel like hospitals should be safe places, and there should be no pushing whatsoever, particularly if we are supposed to be doctors making life-altering decisions about patients on a regular basis." I can tell you it was an awkward process giving the height/weight/eye color of my attending.

Supervisor emails me back now and says to show up and go to work with the attending tomorrow morning, but will meet with him and the other supervisor at 11:30 am. Nervous as hell. Running through scenarios in my head.
 
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Write down everything you remember in detail. Send it to yourself as an email. Pay particular attention to outside witnesses.

Think of it this way. One of you is likely to get fired. Make sure it's her.

Write back to your supervisor:

I will show up as instructed. But I just want to make sure you understand that I don't feel safe working with someone who was physically violent with me last week. I request that you reconsider declining my request to change services.

Once you graduate, send a copy of the police report to the state medical board.
 
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What would be the benefit of pressing charges ?
Something going permanantly in her record for one (even if she's never found guilty) if you can get the prosecutor to pick it up. Very public "get your crap together and stop this" to both her and the hospital that likely means it doesn't happen again. The most firm "I was battered by my attending" defense that exists should the hospital move against OP.

But other than those things, no benefit
 
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You don't want to be the aggressor, but you certainly want to prepare for a rainy day.

The attending lady is out of control, and her behavior is reminescent of Dr. Bahnson from Ohio State - people were terrified of him despite doing things like forcing his female residents to take birth control. If she is tenured, it will be very hard for the hospital to fire her. Reading the federal complaint, it became quite clear that HR had no idea how to address his behavior because of how powerful he was and the tenure that protected him. This lady seems like the female equivelent to Bahnson.

Honestly, if I were you, I would contact an attorney ASAP and just make sure people are watching over you. Tides seem unstable for you OP.
 
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Something going permanantly in her record for one (even if she's never found guilty) if you can get the prosecutor to pick it up. Very public "get your crap together and stop this" to both her and the hospital that likely means it doesn't happen again. The most firm "I was battered by my attending" defense that exists should the hospital move against OP.

But other than thise things, no benefit


That's gonna require one or more witnesses actually reporting they saw the pushing AS it happened. Not just reporting that they over heard her yelling, bring me into a room, saw me gesture as if trying to escape, or even heard me say "pushing me is inappropriate, stop." So unless they roll back the security cameras I'm not even sure she will be prosecuted.
 
Write down everything you remember in detail. Send it to yourself as an email. Pay particular attention to outside witnesses.

Think of it this way. One of you is likely to get fired. Make sure it's her.

Write back to your supervisor:

I will show up as instructed. But I just want to make sure you understand that I don't feel safe working with someone who was physically violent with me last week. I request that you reconsider declining my request to change services.

Once you graduate, send a copy of the police report to the state medical board.
I wrote back with a simple 'ok - see you then.' He hasn't denied my request, yet.
I like the idea about reporting to medical board but unless prosecuted, it's just my word against hers.
 
I have had a conflict with an attending where I could have caused him and the institution quite a bit of trouble if I'd pressed the matter. I got a lot of points for not exercising my rights to the fullest and allowing the matter to be settled internally. The medical hierarchy appreciated my forebearance and went above and beyond to resolve the matter to my satisfaction.

Having a police report in hand is absolutely the right thing to have done. Backing up all of your emails onto a drive that you own is also critical. Getting professional legal advice pronto, also great idea. But it isn't a terrible idea to hold your right to press charges in reserve until you see how tomorrow goes, at least. You can afford to wait. Everyone at that hospital would greatly prefer a resolution that doesn't involve legal action and you might see a better outcome from letting them have an opportunity to internally alleviate your reasons to seek that recourse.
 
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Because I have less than 3 months left in this program, and 2 weeks left on the rotation, job contract lined up, out of state license application pending...

One foot out the door... someone else's problem now? This is all the more reason YOU should speak up. What do you have to lose? Do you think the junior residents feel like they can speak up? It's about protecting other people from this bullsh*t.
 
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One foot out the door... someone else's problem now? This is all the more reason YOU should speak up. What do you have to lose? Do you think the junior residents feel like they can speak up? It's about protecting other people from this bullsh*t.

One foot out the door isn't out the door.

You remain vulnerable until you are a fully licensed attending, graduated from your residency in good standing. Don't imagine that there is some kind of safety equity that you build as you get closer to graduation, that you can spend to get yourself out of situations without risking all that you've invested up to that point. Until you are really, really done, they can still hurt you, bad.
 
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One foot out the door... someone else's problem now? This is all the more reason YOU should speak up. What do you have to lose? Do you think the junior residents feel like they can speak up? It's about protecting other people from this bullsh*t.
Dude, I HAVE spoken up. Waiting to see what the outcome is and next steps for possible escalation. Clearly they haven't decided to fire her/make her undergo a psych eval if she is still assigned to the clinical service, but that doesn't meant they aren't just sluggishly arranging for me to officially transfer services and/or require a more formal meeting and statement from me to give to HR before they are technically allowed by the GME office to transfer me.

Besides the possible investigation for the police, I am considering what it would be like to file an EEOC complaint. Of course, that only is valid if there ARE negative consequences for me and I am disciplined or fired. And yes I realize that is a huge pain in the ass for any organization to deal with an EEOC investigation, and the best that they can do is possibly fine the hospital or try to get me like 1 week of my job back, but hey, at least I'm protecting other people from the bullsh*t.
 
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Dude, I HAVE spoken up. Waiting to see what the outcome is and next steps for possible escalation. Clearly they haven't decided to fire her/make her undergo a psych eval if she is still assigned to the clinical service, but that doesn't meant they aren't just sluggishly arranging for me to officially transfer services and/or require a more formal meeting and statement from me to give to HR before they are technically allowed by the GME office to transfer me.

Besides the possible investigation for the police, I am considering what it would be like to file an EEOC complaint. Of course, that only is valid if there ARE negative consequences for me and I am disciplined or fired. And yes I realize that is a huge pain in the ass for any organization to deal with an EEOC investigation, and the best that they can do is possibly fine the hospital or try to get me like 1 week of my job back, but hey, at least I'm protecting other people from the bullsh*t.

Don't let these armchair quarterbacks rile you up. It is easy to talk a big game when they don't have to deal with any of the blowback and live through it all.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. I would agree to have all the documents in your back pocket, but if I were you I would not make a huge case about all this so close to graduation unless they force your hand.
 
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Which path program are you in? I wish to avoid it
 
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I wrote back with a simple 'ok - see you then.' He hasn't denied my request, yet.
I like the idea about reporting to medical board but unless prosecuted, it's just my word against hers.

The problem with that reply is that it almost confirms that the only issue was the "yelling" and that its not a big deal to you. It needs to be clear that the issue is not yelling, the issue is the physical assault and essentially holding you hostage. Your supervisors seem to be focusing on the "yelling" part of the exchange, which makes sense, because it would be extremely difficult for you to justify that the yelling was inappropriate as compared to assault (they're going to try their best not to acknowledge the assault in any way). You need to be clear with them that you are concerned for your physical safety as she assaulted you. At this point, I would still reply and explain that to them.

Unfortunately, a good amount of time has passed. They've probably already talked in person to the attending (which they said they would do) and given her plenty of time to justify herself and assault your character and your course of events (more time than they'd give you). They're also trying to scare you off and covering their own backs by convincing you that you don't have a case against her and litigation isn't an option (clear and common tactic used on victims). I wouldn't be surprised if there was also plenty of time for the security tapes from the room (if any exist) to mysteriously disappear over the last couple days.

I would really start to consider what the worst case scenario is. I suppose she could fail you on the rotation. If that happens, what can you do? What's the remediation process? Will you end up with her again on a rotation? If she doesn't, can she in some other way prevent you from graduating? In other words is your graduation dependent on her approval? Do you have the paper trail of good evals that was discussed by other posters? That will be necessary.

At this point, I would as others have suggested contact a lawyer. Don't tell other people at the hospital about it. Make it clear to the lawyer that you are only seeking their advice at this point. Make it clear that you don't want them to discuss anything with the hospital or their counsel, etc. Meet them far away from anyone else in the program (e.g. far from the hospital, if you live near a resident, meet them at their office, not your home, etc.). Don't mention it to anyone. Not your supervisors, not your resident friends, not your previous graduate friends, not your boy/girlfriend in the program that you trust with everything, etc.

I would also send an email clarifying your initial concern about physical violence, not yelling or berating.

I would get as many details about your performance as you can possibly document in your possession.

Other than that, you can just wait and see what happens. It might all be fine. Maybe they're just being defensive because they don't want a lawsuit, and they will eventually let you graduate without a hitch in a few months. Either way, there's no harm in being prepared. You are the weak one in this relationship, and you need as much ammunition and people looking out for you as possible.

EDIT: I'd also agree with others that so far, you haven't made any major mistakes given your situation. Everything you did is understandable and would probably be as much or even more than most people would do. The only possible mistake at this point in my opinion was the reply to that email, but that can be rectified, and honestly it might not even be a mistake, especially if it all works out.

Also, if they do expect you to continue to work with this attending for the next 2 weeks, I would document daily your interaction with her, good or bad. I would also ask your supervisors what procedure you should follow if there is a repeat of her behavior. Also, I didn't mention this, but assume every email you exchange with them is also exchanged with the attending, its very possibly they will share it with her.
 
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I am somewhat surprised that HR is dragging it's feet over this. HR is usually independent of the various sections / departments, and isn't staffed by docs. I agree that HR doesn't have protecting your interests as it's main focus -- but it does protect the institution. And if this faculty member does this routinely, it's only a matter of time before someone sues. Hence, they are unlikely to protect this person -- but that all depends upon local politics.

It's unfortunate. It's clearly program / institution dependent. This happens at my program, we get both sides of the story, then if confirmed that faculty member, no matter who they are, doesn't work with my residents until the issue is addressed. Hard stop. And I get HR involved, right away.
 
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dude, she wants to bang you
 
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I am somewhat surprised that HR is dragging it's feet over this. HR is usually independent of the various sections / departments, and isn't staffed by docs. I agree that HR doesn't have protecting your interests as it's main focus -- but it does protect the institution. And if this faculty member does this routinely, it's only a matter of time before someone sues. Hence, they are unlikely to protect this person -- but that all depends upon local politics.

It's unfortunate. It's clearly program / institution dependent. This happens at my program, we get both sides of the story, then if confirmed that faculty member, no matter who they are, doesn't work with my residents until the issue is addressed. Hard stop. And I get HR involved, right away.
I haven't contacted HR. Yet. This happened on Friday afternoon and hospital HR is only open weekdays. That is not to say the supervisors weren't obliged to copy my email to them over the weekend once I documented what happened.
 
I am somewhat surprised that HR is dragging it's feet over this. HR is usually independent of the various sections / departments, and isn't staffed by docs. I agree that HR doesn't have protecting your interests as it's main focus -- but it does protect the institution. And if this faculty member does this routinely, it's only a matter of time before someone sues. Hence, they are unlikely to protect this person -- but that all depends upon local politics.

It's unfortunate. It's clearly program / institution dependent. This happens at my program, we get both sides of the story, then if confirmed that faculty member, no matter who they are, doesn't work with my residents until the issue is addressed. Hard stop. And I get HR involved, right away.

Dude, I think your residents are lucky to have someone like you as their PD. You seem to have a rational head and don't seem hotheaded and one sided.
 
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I haven't contacted HR. Yet. This happened on Friday afternoon and hospital HR is only open weekdays. That is not to say the supervisors weren't obliged to copy my email to them over the weekend once I documented what happened.

I think it's a tough position to be in. I totally understand your position and I think talking to the chief was the right thing to do, filing a police report was the right thing to do, and I think it would be a good idea to talk to HR on Monday morning. I am assuming that you will not return to this attending's service at this point? If you are re-assigned and only have 3 months left, it's likely that unless you have a problematic record, no issues should arise. If this said attending tried to fail you, it could be seen as retaliation and that would brign a whole poop storm to the attending and hospital so I don't think the attending would be so foolish to do this. I would certainly also talk to a lawyer and discuss this situation - if you have all the documentation in place before anything happens you are more likely to be protected. I would not hesitate after you graduate to file a grievance with the hospital/department and possibly press charges. Even if there are no negative consequences against you, it's likely this person will continue doing this to others. And again there is no place for violent, aggressive, physical violence in the work place period, and certainly in medicine - again surgery or not.
 
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Thanks all for your input and support. I feel a little more confident going forward. Game plan for tomorrow's meeting, I will not leave that room without accomplishing the following:

-Express my desire to have a successful and uneventful last two months
-Recap the details of the physical aggression
-Become a broken record if anyone tries to twist my words. If anyone says "we are going to dismiss/transfer/discipline you because you had a 'rough rotation' or 'couldn't get along with' or had 'interpersonal communication issues' or gosh forbid, for 'academic reasons' I will clarify that I am requesting a transfer because of the escalation to physical aggression. Dr. X in the past gave me feedback on y, and I addressed it with z. I learned how to deal with demanding personalities. But I feel the transfer is necessary at this point because she was physically aggressive. But asteroid body, you're going to deal with interpersonal issues in any workplace. Yes sir, I agree, but under no circumstances do I feel is is appropriate to be physically aggressive. This is why I am requesting the transfer.

I'm gonna go for a jog and try to get a good night's rest... thanks again.
 
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Thanks all for your input and support. I feel a little more confident going forward. Game plan for tomorrow's meeting, I will not leave that room without accomplishing the following:

-Express my desire to have a successful and uneventful last two months
-Recap the details of the physical aggression
-Become a broken record if anyone tries to twist my words. If anyone says "we are going to dismiss/transfer/discipline you because you had a 'rough rotation' or 'couldn't get along with' or had 'interpersonal communication issues' or gosh forbid, for 'academic reasons' I will clarify that I am requesting a transfer because of the escalation to physical aggression. Dr. X in the past gave me feedback on y, and I addressed it with z. I learned how to deal with demanding personalities. But I feel the transfer is necessary at this point because she was physically aggressive. But asteroid body, you're going to deal with interpersonal issues in any workplace. Yes sir, I agree, but under no circumstances do I feel is is appropriate to be physically aggressive. This is why I am requesting the transfer.

I'm gonna go for a jog and try to get a good night's rest... thanks again.

Also don't forget - per ACGME, they cannot fire you without 4 MONTHS of notice, unless something that YOU did of extenuating circumstances occurs. I would be very forward and state it as I was physically assaulted/battered - which you were if you were pushed. Without giving you 4 months of notice, they are violating policy. In order to generally terminate you, they have to put you on probation first. And prior to putting you on probation, they have to remediate you. In order to remediate you, they have to let you know of deficiences, in writing, and come up with a plan of remediation that addresses issues. Know your rights! Best of luck!
 
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I think it's a tough position to be in. I totally understand your position and I think talking to the chief was the right thing to do, filing a police report was the right thing to do, and I think it would be a good idea to talk to HR on Monday morning. I am assuming that you will not return to this attending's service at this point? If you are re-assigned and only have 3 months left, it's likely that unless you have a problematic record, no issues should arise. If this said attending tried to fail you, it could be seen as retaliation and that would brign a whole poop storm to the attending and hospital so I don't think the attending would be so foolish to do this. I would certainly also talk to a lawyer and discuss this situation - if you have all the documentation in place before anything happens you are more likely to be protected. I would not hesitate after you graduate to file a grievance with the hospital/department and possibly press charges. Even if there are no negative consequences against you, it's likely this person will continue doing this to others. And again there is no place for violent, aggressive, physical violence in the work place period, and certainly in medicine - again surgery or not.
As I mentioned earlier, I am being asked to show up to work with HER as attending tomorrow morning (not just micromanager chief of service) and then meet with supervisors after.
 
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if everything is truly as you described, make sure that police report is filed, and then notify HR of the report. HR has more power than GME, and the focus should be on the assault. otherwise if she complains first it is your a zz that will get smoked. They will try and play it off like its your fault, when she is the one that pushed you twice and then thought it was a good idea to track you down the hall and berate your more. Email to HR should mention that police report has been filed ALREADY. you need to be on offensive not defensive, an attending will crush you otherwise. this needs to happen NOW, TONIGHT. I agree with above, there is just no place in medicine to abuse residents like this knowing you can get away with it. You seem like a nice person and it would suck for someone's career to be ruined like this when they didn't deserve it. I would say she is extremely high risk of trying to mess up your professional record when she is in the wrong
 
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As I mentioned earlier, I am being asked to show up to work with HER as attending tomorrow morning (not just micromanager chief of service) and then meet with supervisors after.

Wow. That is pretty brazen for them to expect you to feel safe working with her as soon as tomorrow, especially in the absence of additional security measures for yourself.

Are you going to work?

Personally, I cannot say that I would feel safe at all without someone supervising/chaperoning your interactions with her.

Again, I have to ask here - what other profession would subject employees to such work environments?
 
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Wow. That is pretty brazen for them to expect you to feel safe working with her as soon as tomorrow, especially in the absence of additional security measures for yourself.

Are you going to work?

Personally, I cannot say that I would feel safe at all without someone supervising/chaperoning your interactions with her.

Again, I have to ask here - what other profession would subject employees to such work environments?

EXACTLY. Clearly the people (?chief?) that know about this aren't making a big deal, and what's going to happen is she will burn him when the time comes and will be about this resident's ability to handle conflict, while the attending will go on to make other resident's lives hell and push them around. Hand over that report, make this go above their heads
 
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if everything is truly as you described, make sure that police report is filed, and then notify HR of the report. HR has more power than GME, and the focus should be on the assault. otherwise if she complains first it is your a zz that will get smoked. They will try and play it off like its your fault, when she is the one that pushed you twice and then thought it was a good idea to track you down the hall and berate your more. Email to HR should mention that police report has been filed ALREADY. you need to be on offensive not defensive, an attending will crush you otherwise. this needs to happen NOW, TONIGHT. I agree with above, there is just no place in medicine to abuse residents like this knowing you can get away with it. You seem like a nice person and it would suck for someone's career to be ruined like this when they didn't deserve it. I would say she is extremely high risk of trying to mess up your professional record when she is in the wrong
I'm still wavering on whether to initiate contact with HR (it will have to be tomorrow morning right before I work with her, as there is no email). I hesitate because it will most certainly agitate/alienate the two supervisors, who have up to this point gone to bat for me, dismissing her host of complaints about me. It will also then be guaranteed to show up as an "incident" in my personnel file, and may formalize the process of performance evaluations in a way that is unfavorable to me. I think it is important to keep some internal allies with high status (one of the supervisors is the Vice Chair, who of course works with the Chair, who ultimately decides who is hired/fired in this program), while taking a firm stance on the physical aggression as completely unacceptable. They know she's a tyrant. They know she has the conflict-resolution skills of a gorilla on methamphetamines. Maybe this is the first time they've ever heard of physical assault, but I believe they would be relieved to hear me say something like "lets make this easier for everybody." Nobody else is going to contact HR, certainly not the attending herself, likely the most she will do is whine to Chair and Vice Chair and try to get me fired and may want to give me a bad eval, which I may or may not be able to negotiate away. If HR has already been contacted, there is no disadvantage to reporting my version of the story after hers.

However, if I fail to negotiate a 'neutral' transfer to another service, my next stop is HR. And I think it is a reasonable period of time considering the police report is in and technically it would be within 24 hours of the incident, counting business days.
 
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Wow. That is pretty brazen for them to expect you to feel safe working with her as soon as tomorrow, especially in the absence of additional security measures for yourself.

Are you going to work?

Personally, I cannot say that I would feel safe at all without someone supervising/chaperoning your interactions with her.

Again, I have to ask here - what other profession would subject employees to such work environments?
Their excuse is of course going to be that patients come first and they couldn't arrange alternate coverage on short notice. I was warned it would look bad for me if I didn't show up.
 
It's pretty easy to link any negative fallout on your end to retaliation on their part. Also, if you have a resident union, seek support there.
 
I'm still wavering on whether to initiate contact with HR (it will have to be tomorrow morning right before I work with her, as there is no email). I hesitate because it will most certainly agitate/alienate the two supervisors, who have up to this point gone to bat for me, dismissing her host of complaints about me. It will also then be guaranteed to show up as an "incident" in my personnel file, and may formalize the process of performance evaluations in a way that is unfavorable to me. I think it is important to keep some internal allies with high status (one of the supervisors is the Vice Chair, who of course works with the Chair, who ultimately decides who is hired/fired in this program), while taking a firm stance on the physical aggression as completely unacceptable. They know she's a tyrant. They know she has the conflict-resolution skills of a gorilla on methamphetamines. Maybe this is the first time they've ever heard of physical assault, but I believe they would be relieved to hear me say something like "lets make this easier for everybody." Nobody else is going to contact HR, certainly not the attending herself, likely the most she will do is whine to Chair and Vice Chair and try to get me fired and may want to give me a bad eval, which I may or may not be able to negotiate away. If HR has already been contacted, there is no disadvantage to reporting my version of the story after hers.

However, if I fail to negotiate a 'neutral' transfer to another service, my next stop is HR. And I think it is a reasonable period of time considering the police report is in and technically it would be within 24 hours of the incident, counting business days.

Sounds like you have a plan then, as long as police have received the report and you have this evidence in your back pocket. this way down the line if they come at you or report any of this nonsense on your record, it will be an uphill battle and you could hire a lawyer - it sounds like they haven't made any formal complaints against you, so you're in the clear. I am not one to get people in trouble unnecessarily and have a low threshold to look the other way, but it seems like you have to deal with it in a way that documents the situation and appropriately protects you. you have my condolences, it sounds like she has forced you into a crappy situation. hope she realizes the error in her ways
 
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