Doctor claims bullying by peers, sues WRHA

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2018 (2019 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba doctor and stroke specialist says he was forced out of his job at the province’s largest hospital after he complained about workplace bullying.

Dr. Thomas Mammen, who now practises in Brandon, is suing the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, which runs the Health Sciences Centre. In a statement of claim filed Tuesday in Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench, Mammen claims he was “blocked” from practising his specialty of interventional neuroradiology at HSC after he resigned from a corporation of radiology consultants in Winnipeg because of repeated incidents of bullying and harassment. He claims the incident is part of a “mass exodus” of specialists from HSC that could leave stroke patients vulnerable.

In the claim, which hasn’t been proven, Mammen says WRHA dismissed his complaints that he was being bullied within the Radiology Consultants of Winnipeg Medical Corporation (RADCO). The corporation recruited him to work at HSC and he eventually became a shareholder along with other radiologists at Winnipeg hospitals. He claims he was subjected to and witnessed verbal abuse, bullying and abuse of authority from some of the doctors at RADCO, and ultimately resigned from the corporation in 2015 after he says he made multiple attempts to resolve the issues.

He claims he wanted to keep working at HSC without being part of RADCO, but he says WRHA told him it had an agreement with RADCO that required all radiologists who worked under the health authority to be part of RADCO. He disputes that there is such an agreement and is asking the court to rule on what he describes as “the illegal relationship” between WRHA and RADCO. As part of RADCO, he says he and other doctors had to pay in to “top up” other doctors’ incomes.

Mammen wants the court to order WRHA to pay him damages, including for lost income, and to declare that the health authority violated his rights.

A statement of defence has not yet been filed, but in an email to the Free Press, a spokeswoman for WRHA said the health authority disputes some claims.

“The WRHA takes issue with many of the allegations set forth in the claim and will be responding in due course. We cannot comment about matters before the courts or outside the court processes,” the email said.

Mammen issued a news release to media Tuesday about his statement of claim. In it, he said he felt he had no choice but to turn to the court.

“My hope is that the WRHA will be forced, by the courts, to eliminate workplace harassment and bullying at the HSC, to help serve the emergency needs of stroke patients in Manitoba,” he said in the statement.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay