A former employee at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine filed a lawsuit against the school on the basis of gender discrimination and retaliation, alleging the university paid her less than her male peers and threatened to fire employees who brought concerns to the press. The suit, which also names NYU Langone CEO Robert Grossman, is scheduled to be heard in a federal New York court this coming February.
Kristin Carmody, the plaintiff, claimed she was fired “for her increased objections” to an uptick in gender discrimination at the university and “false accusations of criminal fraud” for mishandling a patient’s medical records, according to the October 2021 complaint. Carmody began her term as vice chair for academic affairs and education innovation in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Grossman in 2017. Her contract with the institution was terminated in 2020.
In March 2020, a primarily female and minority-led group of residents and faculty at NYU raised concerns about gender disparities — including allegations of unequal treatment of residents and patients — at the university. After their concerns were made public in the media, NYU allegedly forbade its employees from speaking to media outlets without permission, and said they would be “subject to disciplinary action, including termination,” if they did not comply.
“Although it was not apparent to Dr. Carmody at the time, it became subsequently clear to her that the individual defendants were conspiring to suppress the residents who were advocating for social justice issues,” the complaint reads.
Later, in April 2020, the same group of residents sent a letter to NYU leadership, requesting fair treatment, life insurance, disability insurance, hazard pay and coverage of COVID-19 treatment for those who were ill during the pandemic.
The following month, Robert Grossman, emergency department chair Robert Femia and other university administrators named in the suit allegedly demanded that residents remove their names from the letter because it “doesn’t look good” for NYU, according to the complaint. Carmody also claimed that Femia requested she provide the university with the names of the residents who signed the letter — a request she called “completely inappropriate.” She argued that her refusal to submit to their demands led to her termination.
In the lawsuit, NYU claimed it fired Carmody for falsifying a patient’s medical records and saying she carried out a physical exam which she did not perform. In its response to the 2021 complaint, NYU said that “there is absolutely no basis” on which Carmody can prove that the reason for her termination was based on discrimination, and denied the accusations of discrimination and retaliation.
“We look forward to proving our case in court,” NYU Langone spokesperson Steve Ritea wrote to WSN. “The fact remains that we ended our professional relationship with Dr. Carmody because she falsified a patient’s medical record and violated her medical and ethical obligations in a way that placed a patient in grave risk of harm, all of which Dr. Carmody later admitted.”
The suit states that Carmody had supervised a patient, but that when she went to update the patient’s medical chart, the closest option was to note that she had “physically examined” them. Carmody’s complaint states that two male physicians at NYU Langone who carried out similar mishandlings of patient care were neither flagged for review nor subject to termination.
Additionally, Carmody is claiming that Langone discriminated against her by granting male employees more financial benefits. The complaint states that the previous vice chair for the emergency department was given a raise of $10,000 every year, compared to her “zero promise of a raise.” When she was hired in 2017, Femia assured Carmody that her contract was identical to other positions at similar levels, according to the suit.
If the jury rules in Carmody’s favor, she could be awarded compensation for financial, reputational and emotional distress.
“We are pleased that Judge Schofield has recognized NYU’s inappropriate actions and Dean Grossman’s involvement in the discrimination against Dr. Carmody,” Damian Cavaleri, an attorney for Carmody, wrote to WSN.
Contact Yezen Saadah at [email protected].
