Woman’s boss harassed her so much it killed her, scathing suit claims
A Coney Island Hospital ER doctor was harassed to death, a bombshell lawsuit claims.
Dr. Inna Shuman was so mentally and physically stressed by a campaign of cruelty conducted by her department chairman that her immune system was compromised, making her susceptible to cancer, and “exacerbated her condition and caused her quick demise” from the disease, the suit alleges.
Shuman died on Nov. 14, 2017, from gallbladder cancer at the age of 53.
Her husband, Dr. Gennadiy Bilitch, 55, who chairs the psychiatry department at the same taxpayer-funded hospital where his spouse was employed, has continued the court fight his wife initiated against Coney Island in 2011, on behalf of her estate.
Jury selection in the $10 million civil case is scheduled for later this month.
Dr. Shuman was hired in October 2007 and in 2009 was chosen “as the best doctor in the ER,” court papers claim. The veteran MD happily worked night shifts in order to care during the day for her son, Jonathan.
Her troubles began when she was groped in May 2010 by Dr. David P. Neckritz, the suit claims, two months after he took over as chair of emergency medicine.
“I was horrified and I felt ashamed and humiliated that another man, especially a supervisor in the same place where my husband and I would work, would grab at my breast so brazenly and press his penis up against my body in the middle of the workplace,” Shuman said in an affidavit.
Neckritz allegedly whispered that he would fire another doctor so she could become his assistant, and would raise her salary from $147,000 to $200,000.
She told no one at first.
“I didn’t want my husband to find out or for this to have any impact on him professionally and I suffered in silence at home for many months, hiding my pain over the violation from my husband,” she said.
But Shuman “no longer felt safe” at work.
Rejected and suspecting that Shuman was talking to people, Neckritz began to retaliate, the suit says.
He allegedly berated Shuman for not discharging patients fast enough, and allegedly asked other staffers to “get dirt” on Shuman. In one instance, an assistant took pictures of Shuman at her desk “mid blink” to show she was “sleeping on the job.”
By the end of 2010, Neckritz removed Shuman from the critical care area of the emergency department.
Shuman became physically distressed. She “couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat and then would overeat, began having intense anxiety and trouble breathing,” the suit says.
“Repeated studies have shown that exposure to significant stress more than doubles the risk of developing cancer,” said Dr. William Malarkey, an Ohio State University researcher who is an expert witness for the plaintiff, in court papers. “It would be consistent with well-accepted medical knowledge that Dr. Shuman would be profoundly affected by Dr. Neckritz’s behavior and continued presence in her environment.”
Neckritz resigned “unscathed” from Coney Island at the end of 2015, around the same time Shuman was diagnosed and two years before her death, said Shuman’s attorney, Zarina Burbacki.
“It’s been a long road for Dr. Inna Shuman to bring justice to those who gravely abused their power as her employers,” Burbacki said. “She was a devoted and respected emergency department doctor, a loving wife and exceptional mother who suffered immensely for standing up to her abuser.”
The suit names Neckritz; New York City; the city Health and Hospitals Corp., which runs Coney Island Hospital; and Physician Affiliate Group of New York, as defendants.
NYC Health and Hospitals spokesman Christopher Miller said the defendants “take allegations of sexual harassment seriously. At this stage, the court has not determined the credibility of Dr. Shuman’s claims. A jury will decide whether her claims have merit.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/09/14/womans-boss-harassed-her-so-much-it-killed-her-scathing-suit-claims/
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