Droolers bleed city
Hosps cough up $500G in sex harass suits vs. 2 docs
The city hospital system has paid nearly $500,000 to settle lawsuits accusing two of its high-level doctors of being sexist sickos, a review of public records shows.
One settlement went to a surgical technician at Lincoln Hospital who accused the hospital's director of anesthesiology of fondling her buttocks, referring to female staff as “bitches” and “whores” and lasciviously staring down her shirt when she wore loosefitting medical scrubs.
The woman received a $140,000 payment from the city after she filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court in 2016, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request. The woman said the anesthesiology director, Alberto Velasco, frequently made creepy comments, even in introducing himself.
“I'm Velasco — the V is for Vagina,” he would say, according to the lawsuit.
The surgical technician said in her lawsuit that other women on staff had complained about Velasco, alleging sexual harassment as far back as 2008 — but Lincoln Medical Center management didn't intervene.
Another settlement involving Velasco went to an anesthesiologist at Lincoln Medical Center who said she was paid about $50,000 less than her male counterparts. She also said in her lawsuit, filed in 2014 in Manhattan Federal Court, that she had to listen to Velasco refer to women doctors as “bitches.”
The female anesthesiologist also said residents in training told her Velasco said they should only take rotations with male anesthesiologists because they were the only ones good enough to learn from. That doctor received a $240,000 settlement in 2015.
The Health and Hospitals Corp., which operates 11 public hospitals, said Velasco no longer works in its system.
Velasco's lawyer, Lou Pechman, denied the allegations against his client.
“Dr. Velasco is proud of his record of achievement at Lincoln Hospital and emphatically denies that he engaged in any misconduct whatsoever,” Pechman said.
The city also paid $110,000 to a physician assistant who accused the chief of service of Metropolitan Hospital's radiology department of demanding to see pictures of her in a bikini and commenting to her about the size of patients' penises. She filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court in 2017, accusing the chief, Dr. Hussein Matari, of asking her if she had work done on her breasts and telling her she looked like a prostitute.
“You don't belong in a hospital, you belong on a corner,” Matari said to the physician assistant about a dress she wore to work, according to the lawsuit.
Matari, who still works for Health and Hospitals Corp., denied the allegations in a court filing responding to the lawsuit.
He is also being sued by another doctor, Andrew Kerr. Matari, who is Muslim and a Palestinian immigrant, is accused in that lawsuit of making anti-Semitic remarks and trying to terminate Jewish radiologists.
Matari's lawyer declined to comment.
The Daily News reported Wednesday that the city settled 90 claims of sexual harassment or sex discrimination between 2014 and 2017, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request. The city Health and Hospital Corp., which operates 11 public hospitals, accounted for 15 settlements, costing a total of $1.78 million, records show. Six settlements, totaling $955,000, involved allegations about staff at Lincoln Hospital.
“NYC Health + Hospitals has zero tolerance for any form of discrimination or harassment in the workplace,” Health and Hospitals Corp. said in a statement. “We take these allegations very seriously and refer them to the appropriate investigative and enforcement agencies.”