BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A doctor has sued the Palo Alto Medical Foundation for allegedly ignoring him when he raised concerns about patients being over-exposed to radiation, and for expecting him to be docile and compliant to conform to Asian male stereotypes.
“Dr. (Harrison) Wang was so affected by this expectation that he remained painfully quiet when a male doctor made inappropriate sexual remarks during a mock breast examination in the presence of female technicians and physicians,” the lawsuit says. “The doctor stated something to the effect of being good at ‘sticking the meat.'”
Palo Alto Medical Foundation and its parent company, Sutter Health, are investigating Wang's allegations and taking them seriously, spokeswoman Callie Lutz said yesterday.
“Until our investigation is complete, we are not able to comment on this specific issue,” she said. “As a health care system serving diverse people and communities, we do not tolerate discrimination of any kind.” However, Wang is the second doctor to sue PAMF and Sutter alleging racial bias.
Dr. Omondi Nyong'o claimed in June 2021 that he was told by other black doctors to keep his head down because it would attract trouble with the largely white management.
His supervisors cast him as “an angry black man,” and he was told to take the stairs rather than the elevators because “the white doctors would be ‘uncomfortable' seeing him there,” Nyong'o's lawsuit said.
Nyong'o and PAMF privately settled the lawsuit in September, and Nyong'o left to start a private practice.
Wang still works as a radiologist at PAMF's clinic in Santa Cruz. He also was discriminated against at the medical center at 325 Distel Circle in Los Altos, his lawyer Gina Szeto-Wong said.
Wang said he complained about a lack of masks and Covid testing during the pandemic. PAMF ignored him, and one patient coughed on Wang's head during an exam, he said.
Patients continue to be over-radiated in radiology procedures, “thus greatly increasing their risk of getting cancer,” Wang said.
Wang is asking for the court to order financial damages “in an amount sufficient to punish or make an example of defendants.”
Wang's attorney, Szeto-Wong, said he declined to be interviewed.