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Houston ER Physician Assistant confessing under oath to his racist, anti-semitic messages


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbiZXYoIBFc

A whistle blower revealed Karl Anthony Simon's (Physician assistant) racist texts and voice messages to Team Health and Memorial Hermann in Houston, TX. Instead of firing him they reveal the tipster's name to Simon. He then turns around and sues the tipster for defamation. This is a video deposition of Simon under oath, he has no problem confessing to them comfortably. A judge threw out the defamation case, tipster then sued Memorial Hermann and Team Health for revealing his name although he asked to stay anonymous.

 

Case: No. 2018-49584; Ozgur Gol vs. Karl Anthony Simon; In the 129th Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas

 

He names other co-workers involved in his group messages. The others consisted primarily of physicians, including his wife, Dr. Heather Simon who is an anesthesiologist in Houston. I looked at the Yelp page of one of the physicians mentioned and his pictures have been removed, he serves as a co-owner of a clinic with an NP in Houston.

 

TeamHealth and Memorial Hermann didn't fire him until after the video started trending.  They knew about this months and months ago, remember he was reported by someone else, that person was outed, then he attempted to sue that person. This is his him being deposed by an attorney. Then the video leaks months after the fact, and here we have this bs response from medical admins. 
 

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This pretty much just adds more emphasis to why minority, especially black medical providers, are needed. Because it's clear plenty of non-black medical providers don't give a **** about people who don't look like them. This is just one person who got caught, and only because he was arrogant enough to sue for defamation.

 

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Edited by Bulbasaur
Just removed irrelevant part
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Some people involved in the group chat:

 

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Dr. Heather Simon, MD. Anesthesiologist. Houston, TX

She's tried to scrub most of her info off the web.

 

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Dr. Jordan Smith. Houston, TX

Co-owns a clinic with an NP.  He removed his face from his Yelp page, but there is a cache with past photos. Conveniently, all the one's involving him just happened to disappear.

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uggh, everytime this comes up and read about it I feel like I need to take a shower....

 

I worked the ER for a few years and I can confirm that there is definitely a dehumanizing atmosphere that goes on there.  I think it is in part a defense mechanism by some people to survive the horror that is the ER.  I have said it before and Ill say it again, every provider should work in the ER for a few years...then get out.  It has a way of destroying one's soul.  

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2 hours ago, Cideous said:

uggh, everytime this comes up and read about it I feel like I need to take a shower....

 

I worked the ER for a few years and I can confirm that there is definitely a dehumanizing atmosphere that goes on there.  I think it is in part a defense mechanism by some people to survive the horror that is the ER.  I have said it before and Ill say it again, every provider should work in the ER for a few years...then get out.  It has a way of destroying one's soul.  

the key to staying sane in EM is high acuity and low volume. I agree that high volume, mixed acuity is a formula for burnout aka moral injury.....I just can't see 30 in 12 hrs anymore. I am so done with that....a busy shift now is 20 in 24.

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Forget working in the ER - how can any person with this much hatred and bigotry function in a service profession?

Working in the ER didn't DO THIS to this guy - this is him - his ingrained set of beliefs that he freely spews.

These jackwads exist in every walk of life. Keeping them from ruining our profession or putting out bad press is a constant fight.

If you can't treat a human being as a human being - don't go into medicine - at all.

If you act like this - buh bye - so long - no more license for you.

Tired of idiocy

 

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1 hour ago, Reality Check 2 said:

Forget working in the ER - how can any person with this much hatred and bigotry function in a service profession?

Working in the ER didn't DO THIS to this guy - this is him - his ingrained set of beliefs that he freely spews.

These jackwads exist in every walk of life. Keeping them from ruining our profession or putting out bad press is a constant fight.

If you can't treat a human being as a human being - don't go into medicine - at all.

If you act like this - buh bye - so long - no more license for you.

Tired of idiocy

 

Thank you for staying on topic. ER medicine has nothing to do with this, and bringing that up is borderline deflection.

Racism in this country, specifically in medicine, is the actual topic at hand. One of the main reasons black patients continue to have worse outcomes than other demographics.

It doesn't seem like anything has happened to the physicians who were involved either.

Edited by Bulbasaur
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bias in medicine is a real thing. I just watched an expose revealing that 25% of residents and medical students in one study thought African Americans had thicker skin that whites. A nursing text book available until the past couple years stated that blacks saw pain as inevitable and Hispanics saw it as necessary for entry to heaven. Pain in blacks is treated at a lesser level even after accounting for education and socioeconomics. Further women also ha e been under studied and have poorer pain control. I plan on looking at the original articles, but this is a disturbing statistic.

On the flip side, this thread is looking more like a witch hunt. The user account here was created for, apparently, of making these posts. Let’s not let this degrade into a dumpster fire of a thread.

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8 minutes ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

On the flip side, this thread is looking more like a witch hunt. The user account here was created for, apparently, of making these posts. Let’s not let this degrade into a dumpster fire of a thread.

Already noted, and in conversation with this user about broad participation vs. only posting regarding controversial issues.  I'll note we already had a separate thread on this topic, which any longer-term participant in this forum would have seen...

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1 hour ago, rev ronin said:

Already noted, and in conversation with this user about broad participation vs. only posting regarding controversial issues.  I'll note we already had a separate thread on this topic, which any longer-term participant in this forum would have seen...

Thanks. I saw your note. Just wanted to bring it to the attention of the other users to temper future posts that may get heated.

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20 hours ago, LT_Oneal_PAC said:

bias in medicine is a real thing. I just watched an expose revealing that 25% of residents and medical students in one study thought African Americans had thicker skin that whites. A nursing text book available until the past couple years stated that blacks saw pain as inevitable and Hispanics saw it as necessary for entry to heaven. Pain in blacks is treated at a lesser level even after accounting for education and socioeconomics. Further women also ha e been under studied and have poorer pain control. I plan on looking at the original articles, but this is a disturbing statistic.

On the flip side, this thread is looking more like a witch hunt. The user account here was created for, apparently, of making these posts. Let’s not let this degrade into a dumpster fire of a thread.

I'd like to think of it more as accountability. If you google the people involved, excluding Karl Simon. There is pretty much no information linked to them. Medical professionals are held to a higher standard, similar to police officers and the like, and rightfully so.

If I were a patient, especially if I were female, jewish, black, or hispanic. I would want to know which PA's, docs, or NP's were bigots. So that I could avoid them. Frankly, people like the ones involved have no business in medicine, but we both know as long as you have a great GPA and in the case of physicians a great MCAT score as well, you're in.

20 hours ago, rev ronin said:

Already noted, and in conversation with this user about broad participation vs. only posting regarding controversial issues.  I'll note we already had a separate thread on this topic, which any longer-term participant in this forum would have seen...

I understand your point. But I had to create an account to make a post. Honestly I'm not sure where this was already discussed. I'd actually like to view that thread if you wouldn't mind linking it.

As I said earlier, I think accountability is incredibly important. The people involved are all well into their thirties and work in a multi-cultural city at that. It's sickening and they absolutely knew better. This guy isn't sorry at all as you can see from his deposition.

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I posted the subject video weeks ago on the subject of expulsion policy for the profession. Nothing he said was news to me or not things that I've heard or been subject to in my 66 years of life. I believe all health care providers have a moral and professional duty to treat every patient with respect and to deliver quality care. If anyone finds this standard too difficult to meet, they should just move on to another line of work.

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  • 1 year later...

There’s union protocol and steps for termination in some cases. However being removed from his position effective immediately should have been the moral compass. We can’t unhear the racist rant. I can’t stop thinking consciously at this moment-deep down as to why cultures are reluctant to seek the proper medical attention based on this, stereotypes and attitudes. The hospital definitely was aware of this hostile environment even to his co- workers! Sounds like the lay of the land! 

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6 minutes ago, Boatswain2PA said:

Some people are more equal than others.

One of my all time favorite quote.

Some pigs are more equal than others. I said that to my director recently about having the exact same panel of patients all the docs have. They all have nice big private offices and mine is in a tiny unused exam room. I also can't use the 2 that are empty because they are going to hire someone some day. 

She hasn't read "Animal Farm"

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On 7/19/2021 at 10:17 AM, sas5814 said:

One of my all time favorite quote.

Some pigs are more equal than others. I said that to my director recently about having the exact same panel of patients all the docs have. They all have nice big private offices and mine is in a tiny unused exam room. I also can't use the 2 that are empty because they are going to hire someone some day. 

She hasn't read "Animal Farm"

I get half the CME funds that physicians do. I tried to subtly make the point to admin if they think the physicians know more than me, I need the same or more funding to increase my knowledge, unless they think I know more than they do and then I agree I need less funding. Didn’t get it, but I think my point was well made.

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On 7/18/2021 at 4:23 PM, CAAdmission said:

I wonder if this lady still has her license:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/ct-aud-nw-nyt-yale-psychiatrist-shooting-white-people-20210607-6bu54qqttze6bgn3wtgb6vncpq-story.html

Looks like she is still in good standing on the NY website. 

Ok yeah, that lady is nuts and should never be allowed to speak anywhere much less practice medicine in any capacity.  She said her words were taken out of context to control the narrative?  Really?  How is language like this helping "the narrative".

 

“I systematically white-ghosted most of my white friends, and I got rid of the couple white BIPOCs that snuck in my crew, too,” she said, using an acronym for Black and Indigenous people and people of color.

“I had fantasies of unloading a revolver into the head of any white person that got in my way, burying their body and wiping my bloody hands as I walked away relatively guiltless with a bounce in my step, like I did the world a favor,” she said, adding an expletive.

 

 

I'm not sure how we move forward as a society when language like this is put out there from not just people but from professionals.  It's very depressing.  As someone who has disected a human body I can tell you this, we are all pretty much the same on the inside.  Except for about 3mm of skin covering and a few facial features...humans are humans.  This behavior is learned, not genetic.

 

 

 

 

 

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