Jane v. Bowman Gray School of Medicine

• Decision Date: 02 July 2002
• Docket Number: No. 1:99CV01110.,1:99CV01110.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of North Carolina
• Parties: Julio JANE, M.D., Plaintiff, v. THE BOWMAN GRAY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE-NORTH CAROLINA BAPTIST HOSPITAL; Wake Forest University Medical Center; Stephen I. Kramer, M.D.; Burton V. Reifler, M.D., M.P.H.; and Donald W. Peters, M.D. Defendants

211 F.Supp.2d 678

Julio JANE, M.D., Plaintiff, v. THE BOWMAN GRAY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE-NORTH CAROLINA BAPTIST HOSPITAL; Wake Forest University Medical Center; Stephen I. Kramer, M.D.; Burton V. Reifler, M.D., M.P.H.; and Donald W. Peters, M.D. Defendants

No. 1:99CV01110.

United States District Court, M.D. North Carolina.

July 2, 2002.

Julius Levonne Chambers, Ferguson Stein Wallas Adkins Gresham & Sumter, P.A., Charlotte, NC, Julio Jane, M.D., Miami, FL, for plaintiff.

Anthony H. Brett, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, Winston-Salem, NC, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

TILLEY, Chief Judge.

This case is now before the Court on the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. # 27] pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the reasons set forth below, Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED.

I.

The facts, in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, Dr. Julio Jane, are as follows. Dr. Julio Jane was born in Miami, Florida, to parents of Cuban descent. Dr. Jane is a native of the United States and describes his race as Hispanic. Dr. Jane was a resident in the psychiatry resident training program at Wake Forest University's Bowman Gray School of Medicine and Baptist Hospital (hereinafter referred to collectively as "The Medical Center") from July 1, 1994 through May 31, 1996. Residents are admitted to the Bowman Gray School of Medicine as a student in the residency program and are also hired under contract as "house officers" by Baptist Hospital, the teaching hospital. A decision to dismiss a student for failing to meet the standards of the School of Medicine carries with it the automatic termination of the resident's employment as a house officer. Dr. Jane transferred to the program from Duke University and began as a PGY3 (post graduate year 3) pursuant to a contract signed with The Medical Center in 1994 and renewed April 28, 1995.¹ Dr. Jane was terminated from the program effective May 31, 1996 and contends that his termination was based on his race, color and national origin.

During Dr. Jane's residency, Defendant Dr. Kramer was Director of Psychiatric Residency Education for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Defendant Dr. Reifler was a professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and Defendant Dr. Peters was Chairman of the Department of Psychology and Behavioral Medicine's Educational Policy Committee [hereinafter "EPC" or "the Committee"], which consists of various members of the Department responsible for overseeing the residency training program and the academic success of its participants.² Dr. Loretta Sylvia and Dr. Jeff Smith, who are not defendants in this lawsuit but who allegedly made comments about Dr. Jane's race, color, and national origin, were members of the EPC.

Prior to entering the program at The Medical Center, Dr. Jane was a resident at Duke Medical School. His contract with Duke was not renewed after his second year of a four-year residency because he was not performing at the level of other second year residents. Dr. Jane applied to the Medical Center because he did not want to move too far from Durham and he wanted a smaller program. Defendants Dr. Kramer and Dr. Peters both interviewed Dr. Jane and supported his admission to the program.

During Dr. Jane's residency, students in the residency program would participate in rotations in different clinical areas, such as the Mental Health Center, child psychiatry, and others. Each rotation was run by a supervisor who evaluated the students at the end of the rotation. A typical rotation would last for three months, and residents would participate in several rotations simultaneously. At the end of the three-month rotations, the rotation supervisors would submit a written evaluation of the student to Dr. Kramer. Dr. Kramer would compile the evaluations and give the students a "Clinical Performance Evaluation" at the end of the semester with a summary of the student's performance and the individual evaluations attached. The students were evaluated on a numeric scale in fourteen to seventeen different categories related to skills required in psychiatric medicine. The student could receive the following numeric scores: 0—not assessed; 1—needs improvement; 2—satisfactory; 3—good; 4—superior. In addition to the numeric scores, supervisors could write comments on the evaluations.

Dr. Jane alleges that an evaluation in September of 1994 by Dr. Peters, who also served as Dr. Jane's rotation supervisor, contains language that is discriminatory. While Dr. Peters gave Dr. Jane 3's and 4's on the numeric evaluation scale, his written comment on the evaluation included a statement that Dr. Jane's "only negative aspect relates to occasional interpersonal rubs—when he is perceived as overly assertive or not giving others credit for their knowledge or expertise." Dr. Peters went on to say that "[t]his may be partly a language/expression based phenomena." [Jane Aff., Ex. 4]. Dr. Jane recalls that later in his first year Dr. Peters stated on one occasion that "because I was Hispanic that sometimes I may be thinking things in Spanish and when they come out translated in English, that people misinterpret what I'm saying." [Jane Aff., Ex. 2].

In the same time period, September of 1994, on the advice of his chief resident, Dr. Jane wrote a letter to Dr. Kramer about concerns he had with the Forsyth-Stokes Mental Health Center rotation. Dr. Jane's letter discussed his frustrations with the rotation and suggested improvements for the rotation. Following Dr. Kramer's receipt of the letter, Dr. Jane received an evaluation from Dr. Granger, his rotation supervisor for the months of July through September of 1994. Dr. Jane contends that Dr. Granger's actions were not adverse after the letter was written, despite the fact that Dr. Jane's criticism was of Dr. Granger's rotation. Dr. Jane states in his deposition that Dr. Granger's evaluation after the fact was good, despite the letter. In his deposition, Dr. Jane suggested that his letter made Dr. Kramer "upset" and subsequently affected the way Dr. Kramer treated Dr. Jane throughout the rest of his residency. [Jane Dep. at 63].

According to Dr. Jane, he did not have any discussions with faculty members until May of 1995,³ when he was invited to a meeting with the EPC.⁴ Dr. Jane states that he was told that the purpose of the meeting was to introduce him to the members of the EPC, but when he got there members of the EPC began criticizing him. According to Dr. Jane, two EPC members made comments that Dr. Jane was suffering from "cultural differences." Dr. Smith informed Dr. Jane that he needed to "act more like an Anglo-Saxon." [Jane Aff., Ex. 2]. Dr. Silvia made statements that Dr. Jane was having difficulty adjusting to the program because of his national origin. Dr. Jane recalls, "[Dr. Silvia stated that] basically because I was Hispanic, you know, I was the first person to come into the program of minority ethnicity in the Hispanic category ... that people were making — you know, thinking that I was — that I was having difficulties adjusting or that they also had problems adjusting to me, my culture, to my ethnicity, the way I expressed myself, things of that nature. It was about the way I am as a person." [Jane Aff., Ex. 2]. The EPC did not take any action against Dr. Jane at the meeting.

In May of 1995, after the meeting with the EPC, Dr. Jane received Dr. Kramer's second semester evaluation which summarized problems Dr. Jane had allegedly been having with tardiness, attendance, and relating to patients and staff. Dr. Kramer reported that the problems were "adequately addressed," presumably referring to the EPC's discussion with Dr. Jane at the EPC meeting. Dr. Kramer addressed other areas of concern but also made special note of Dr. Jane's accomplishments during the semester.

Dr. Jane's performance continued under scrutiny during his second year. On October 12, 1995, Dr. Jane received an Interim Clinical Performance evaluation from Dr. Kramer "due to significant concerns regarding [Dr. Jane's] lack of progress, questions of unprofessional behavior, and apparent lack of motivation to successfully complete the training program." [Jane Aff., Ex. 7]. The evaluation again identified Dr. Jane's lack of attendance at clinic sessions, conferences and appointments as continuing concerns. Dr. Kramer also cited a new concern involving a "potential dual relationship ... with a particular patient" which had apparently surfaced during the semester. [Jane Aff., Ex. 7]. According to documents provided by the Defendants which discuss the dual relationship more specifically, Dr. Kramer had received reports that Dr. Jane had been treating a personal friend who was also living with him temporarily during his treatment, resulting in the "dual relationship" and creating ethical concerns. [Jane Dep., Ex. 2 at 16]. Dr. Kramer stated in the evaluation that the concerns would be presented to the EPC on October 17, 1995, and that Dr. Jane could discuss the evaluation with his advisor, Dr. Peter Rosenquist, and bring his advisor to the EPC meeting. [Jane Aff., Ex. 7]. Dr. Jane did not sign the evaluation and instead wrote at the bottom, "I can not, and feel that I should not sign this document, because some of these allegations are incorrect." [Jane Aff., Ex. 7]. Dr. Jane still contends that the Defendants' allegations with respect to tardiness and attendance were false,⁵ but the dual relationship is not discussed in either his deposition or in his affidavit.⁶ The EPC held special meetings about Dr Jane's performance on October 17, 19, and 20, 1995, and on October 20 voted to place Dr. Jane on supervised probation for the remainder of his training. Dr. Jane was "shocked" that he was being put on probation because he did not recall having spoken with Dr. Kramer personally about any of the issues that led to the probation. Under...