Baldwin v. University of Texas

• Citation: 945 F.Supp. 1022
• Decision Date: 06 November 1996
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. G-95-362.
• Parties: Susan BALDWIN, M.D. v. The UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BRANCH AT GALVESTON, Garland D. Anderson, M.D., John C. Jennings, M.D., Alvin L. Leblanc, M.D., Cathy Van Hook, M.D., Turner Sharp, M.D., Berel Held, M.D., each Individual sued Individually and in their Respective Official Capacity as Faculty Members of the University of Texas Medical Branch.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

945 F.Supp. 1022

Susan BALDWIN, M.D. v. The UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BRANCH AT GALVESTON, Garland D. Anderson, M.D., John C. Jennings, M.D., Alvin L. Leblanc, M.D., Cathy Van Hook, M.D., Turner Sharp, M.D., Berel Held, M.D., each Individual sued Individually and in their Respective Official Capacity as Faculty Members of the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Civil Action No. G-95-362.

United States District Court, S.D. Texas, Galveston Division.

November 6, 1996.

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Anthony P. Griffin, Galveston, TX, for plaintiff.

Christopher N. Johnsen, Office of Attorney General, Austin, TX, Susan Sturdivant Jones, Office of Attorney General, Austin, TX, for University of Texas Branch at Galveston.

Susan Sturdivant Jones, Office of Attorney General, Austin, TX, for Garland D. Anderson, John C. Jennings, Alvin L. LeBlanc, M.D., Cathy Van Hook, M.D., Berel Held, M.D., Turner Sharp, M.D.

ORDER GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT

KENT, District Judge.

In this action, Plaintiff Dr. Susan Baldwin has alleged claims of intentional racial discrimination pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, and Title VI, conspiracy to discriminate pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1985, and state law defamation against Defendant UTMB and against the Defendant Drs. Anderson, Jennings, LeBlanc, Van Hook, Sharp and Held, in their individual and official capacities. Now before the Court is the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment dated April 17, 1996. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion is hereby GRANTED.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Susan Baldwin was a third year medical resident at UTMB during the 1994-95 academic year. Dr. Baldwin attended medical school at UTMB, then spent the first two years of her residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston before transferring to UTMB for her third year. Dr. Baldwin wrote to Dr. Jennings, director of the residency program in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, requesting an interview for a third year residency position at UTMB. She specifically expressed an interest in the "extensive opportunities for gynecological experience that exist within your program." During the interview with Jennings, Dr. Baldwin again expressed that one of her primary interests in the program at UTMB was the volume of cases available in which she could enhance her surgical skills. Dr. Baldwin signed the UTMB House Staff Agreement on June 24, 1994, accepting a position as a PGY3 (Post-Graduate Year 3) in the obstetrics and gynecology residency program for a one year period, July 6, 1994 to June 3, 1995.

After each rotation of residents, all faculty members are offered an opportunity to evaluate the residents and are provided an evaluation form. Faculty members are only required to fill out an evaluation if they have personally observed the resident. Pursuant to this procedure, Dr. Baldwin's professors evaluated her performance throughout her tenure at UTMB. Several of those professors have also been named as defendants in this lawsuit; therefore, those evaluations are particularly relevant and deserve close attention by the Court. Dr. Cathy Van Hook, an assistant professor at UTMB, for example, first evaluated Baldwin on August 28, 1994. In that evaluation, Van Hook stated that Baldwin's overall knowledge base was weak and that as a PGY3 in obstetrics, she had a poor grasp of labor and delivery patients. Dr. Van Hook felt that Baldwin needed close supervision and that unless she markedly improved, she would not be able to advance to the PGY4 level. In Dr. Van Hook's second evaluation of Dr. Baldwin's performance, dated February 1, 1995, Van Hook rated Baldwin's surgical skills, teaching, acceptance of criticism and overall performance as unsatisfactory. Van Hook's evaluation states that she did not feel that Baldwin functioned at a third year level and at times Baldwin's performance was what Van Hook considered marginal for a second year resident. Specifically, Van Hook wrote:

Surgically, Susan does not seem to have a good grasp of pelvic anatomy and did not demonstrate an ability to picture the pelvis three-dimensionally — essential for pelvic surgery. When trying to teach/coach/explain to her, she seems to ignore the comments or is incapable of applying the knowledge offered. She declined the opportunity to do a TAH on a large fibroid uterus to go to clinic instead! Lack of confidence? If so avoidance only makes it worse. My biggest concern with Susan is: 1) I do not at any level feel she could function completely as a 4th year; Marginally as a 3rd and preferably a 2nd at best. I doubt that she is capable of functioning as a 3rd year ever secondary to personality and an innate inability to be taught. 2) Is she in the wrong field? Are we doing the right thing by allowing Susan to continue on a career choice she seems unsuitable for?

Defendant's Exhibit 2-B (emphasis in original).

Dr. Turner Sharp, an associate professor at UTMB and a defendant in this case, also had the opportunity to evaluate Dr. Baldwin's performance at UTMB. His first evaluation is dated August 25, 1994. In the evaluation, Sharp rated Baldwin's surgical skills as marginal and her overall performance as average. Sharp's second evaluation of Baldwin, dated January 24, 1995, rates Baldwin's surgical skills as unsatisfactory and her acceptance of criticism unsatisfactory. Sharp further explains his evaluation in a memorandum to Jennings, dated January 23, 1995:

... I must give Dr. Baldwin a much less than satisfactory evaluation based on several points: 1) When she began her PGY III year here, her surgical skills were equivalent to a senior medical student, and therefore, totally unsatisfactory. In her most recent rotation, her surgical skills have improved, but certainly nowhere near the level we are expecting. I would now rate her at the level of a first year resident.... The things that really worry me about this young lady are: 1) her lack of surgical judgment, 2) the tendency to be oblivious to what is going on around her and 3) occasional shading of the truth....

Defendants' Exhibit 3-C. In Dr. Sharp's final evaluation of Baldwin in June of 1995, he continued to rank her surgical skills as somewhere between unsatisfactory and marginal, her acceptance of criticism as unsatisfactory, and her overall performance between unsatisfactory and marginal.

Defendant Dr. Berel Held, Professor and Chief of the Division of Gynecology at UTMB, also evaluated Baldwin's performance during the third year of her residency. His first evaluation on September 8, 1994, rates Baldwin's surgical skills as marginal. Dr. Held's second evaluation, on January 25, 1995, states that Baldwin was not performing at the PGY3 level judgmentally or technically.

Although she was a nice woman and kind to the patients, her progress over the last six months with respect to acquisition of knowledge and skill had not been at a pace to permit her to function satisfactorily at a PGY4 level in July of 1995.

Defendants' Ex. 4. In his final evaluation of Dr. Baldwin's performance in June of 1995, Dr. Held noted that Dr. Baldwin's general level of knowledge, which was satisfactory, did not translate to satisfactory clinical problem solving skills appropriate for her level of training.

Several other professors at UTMB, not named as Defendants in this lawsuit, also had an opportunity to observe and to evaluate Dr. Baldwin's performance. Those evaluations largely support the observations made by the Defendant faculty members. For example, Dr. Lisa Troyer, an assistant professor, evaluated Dr. Baldwin in November of 1994. In that evaluation; although Dr. Troyer stated that Baldwin had a good fund of knowledge, her surgical skills and decision making were not as strong. Dr. Troyer rated Baldwin's surgical skills as marginal at that time. Dr. Edward Yeomans, Chief of Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine at UTMB, also evaluated Baldwin. In his evaluation, dated November 24, 1994, Dr. Yeomans noted that Baldwin did not have a strong experience at Baylor and that her knowledge base in obstetrics was better than her clinical experience. In a memorandum to Dr. Jennings, dated February 7, 1995, Dr. Yeomans reports that after having had additional opportunities to observe Dr. Baldwin in labor and delivery, he felt that Baldwin needed remedial work in obstetrics in order to become a chief resident in the UTMB program. Finally, Dr. Leslie Powell, a clinical professor for obstetrics and gynecology, also evaluated Dr. Baldwin's performance. His first evaluation, although dated June 1, 1995, evaluated Baldwin's performance in December 1994 and January 1995. Dr. Powell rates her surgical skills as marginal and her acceptance of criticism as unsatisfactory. His comments included: "surgical technique is marginal; she seems unsure of herself at times," "Gets hostile to criticism," "Has chip on her shoulder." Defendants' Ex. 9-A. In a later evaluation in May of 1995, Powell rated her surgical skills as between marginal and average and her acceptance of criticism as marginal. Powell noted that she continued to accept criticism poorly and at times was reluctant to do a procedure in a certain way that was suggested or asked of her by the supervising physician. He recommended that Baldwin still be monitored closely on major cases.

Part of Dr. Jennings' responsibility as director of the residency program and as an assistant professor are to evaluate the residents' performance based upon his own observations and to give quarterly reviews to the residents. Jennings himself evaluated Baldwin for the first time in August of 1994. In that first evaluation, Jennings noted that "Susan is adapting to her program change and should manifest significant improvement in the months ahead." Based on his observations, he also rated Baldwin's surgical skills as marginal for her residency level. In preparation for Dr. Baldwin's quarterly performance...