Female Doctor, RNs Get $10M for Physical Attack, Hidden Camera

A state jury awarded more than $7 million to a female doctor at Chicago’s Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center for a physical attack by a male colleague. It also awarded $3.2 million to her and six female nurses for a second male doctor’s secret recordings of them as they changed into and out of their work uniforms.

“Today’s verdict against Advocate sends a strong message to Advocate, and employers everywhere, that violence in the workplace cannot be tolerated, especially at a place as important as a hospital,” the women’s attorney, Jeffrey R. Kulwin, said in a Sept. 6 statement.

A worker’s right to privacy also is important, Kulwin added. The Cook County jury that heard the case against Advocate and the doctor who hid the camera “said loud and clear that, in this day and age, privacy rights will be vigorously protected by the law,” he said. Kulwin is with Kulwin, Masciopinto & Kulwin LLP in Chicago.

Advocate didn’t immediately respond Sept. 7 to Bloomberg Law’s request for comment.

‘Culture of Tolerating Misconduct’

The lawsuit was brought in Illinois Circuit Court by Dr. Caroline Ryan, an anesthesiologist, and nurses Michelle Weatherly, Sandy Oliphant, Laura Weith, JoAnne DeJesus, Jessica Moore, and Andrea Alexandre.

They alleged that on July 8, 2013, Dr. Stephen Laga physically and violently attacked Ryan by grabbing her by the arms, spinning her around, and forcefully squeezing her “inward, upward, and backwards” as he leaned toward her face and began yelling at and pushing her. The attack was witnessed by other hospital staff and patients, they said.

Ryan immediately reported the incident to Advocate’s vice president of medical staff management and others but was repeatedly encouraged to drop her report, the complaint alleged. Laga had a long history of workplace violence that the hospital chose to ignore, according to the complaint.

He was required to meet with the chief of the hospital’s surgery department after each incident but apparently was never disciplined, Kulwin told Bloomberg Law by phone Sept. 7. The jury imposed $7 million in punitive damages for the pain and suffering Ryan experienced as a result of Laga’s actions.

With its punitive damages award, the jury was sending a clear message about “the culture of tolerating misconduct by doctors because they generate significant revenues for the hospital,” Kulwin said.

Locker Room Spying

Dr. Robert Weiss, who hid the camera, was also a repeat offender, according to the lawsuit. He set up a video camera in the women’s locker room that captured images of them in various stages of undress, which he then later viewed and potentially distributed to others.

Weiss was arrested when the secret camera was discovered in April 2014 and charged with felony criminal conduct, the complaint said. He later pleaded guilty, according to the statement issued by Kulwin’s firm.

Advocate knew or should have known that Weiss had a history of engaging in similar inappropriate conduct while working for the hospital, including using his mobile phone to photograph female employees without their consent, the women alleged. Despite that history and the criminal charges brought against Weiss for the secret video camera, Advocate delayed in suspending his hospital privileges, they said.

The jury awarded each of the women amounts ranging from $50,000 to $275,000—and totaling $1.175 million—to compensate them for Weiss’ invasion of their privacy. It also added $2 million in punitive damages.

Those awards were made against Weiss alone, who admitted to his liability, according to the verdict form. The jury found Advocate liable for the invasion of privacy as well, but it also answered “no” to a separate question as to whether Weiss’ misconduct was reasonably foreseeable.

That relieved the hospital of liability to the women on the $1.175 million compensatory award, Kulwin said. But he thinks the separate question didn’t accurately reflect controlling law and said he will be asking the trial judge to reconsider that issue. An appeal would likely follow if the trial judge doesn’t change course, he said.

The case is Ryan v. Advocate Health & Hosps. Corp., Ill. Cir. Ct., No. 14 L 9991, jury verdict 9/6/18.