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The bosses 'round the bedside
Ruth Sheehan, Staff Writer
When I think about the recent civil trial of Dr. Wallace Evans of Cary, I keep coming back to "titties," the embarrassing, creepily adolescent way Evans referred to the breasts of some of the female patients he allegedly pawed.
And one simple question: Who's the boss?
That's what we'll find out in the coming months: who is responsible besides the offending doctor when sexual harassment of patients is confirmed.
This month, a Wake County jury found Evans guilty of malpractice for preying on women, some of whom suffered serious depression. The six plaintiffs were awarded $150,000 to $300,000 each. Now those six are seeking further damages, not just from Evans, their family physician, but also from his practice, from his insurance company, and from Blue Cross and Blue Shield and other HMOs.
According to the legal experts, it will be an important test case. To use my own favorite adolescent language: I hope they kick butt.
When someone is sexually harassed in any other work setting, we don't look just to the perpetrator but to the larger work environment. We look at efforts to end the harassment. We look at the supervisor who received complaints but failed to act. We ask what sort of policies were in place.
When you talk about a doctor, though, it's another matter. Doctors, with their godlike personae, have always been entities unto themselves.
No longer. In a world of mismanaged health, group practices and corporate owners, there are bosses aplenty. (Bosses who also determine which docs we can see, which procedures will be paid for.)
Only thing is, when the workplace is the examining room, the bosses often hesitate to use their authority. Evans' partners may have been understandably uncomfortable taking him to task. But what about the insurance companies?
Blue Cross, which insured many of Evans' patients, had received numerous complaints for several years before the women's lawsuits were filed. Yet John Bradley, a senior medical director for Blue Cross, admitted on the stand that the company's "disciplining" amounted to words of caution, not reprimand. To wit: "I'm not saying you've done anything wrong, but some women don't like it when you use the word Otitties.'"
Evans told Bradley he would not change his style. Efforts to remove Evans from the Blue Cross roster of accepted physicians were overruled.
Meanwhile, about the time the women's suits were being assembled, Medical Mutual rewrote its malpractice coverage to exclude damages arising out of sexual intimacy, molestation, harassment, exploitation or assault. What a coincidence.
Sounds like bosses who knew they should have intervened but didn't.
During the trial, in a truly insulting flourish, Evans' attorneys compared his case to the Little Rascals trials. A witch hunt. But Evans' patients were women, not preschoolers. They didn't imagine him using the word "titties," or doing far worse.
And by the way, their attorneys seem to have a pretty good grasp of the "boss" question too.
© 1999 by The News & Observer Pub. Co. Reprinted with permission of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina. Reproduction does not imply endorsement.