A former employee has filed a lawsuit against HCA Healthcare and others, alleging she was repeatedly sexually harassed by a surgeon at HCA's sports medicine clinic in Overland Park, Kan., according to The Kansas City Star.
A former medical assistant at the Kansas City Spine and Sports Medicine Center filed the lawsuit on April 23. According to the lawsuit, she complained to management several times that Glenn Amundson, MD, a surgeon at the practice, made sexual comments to her and touched her in a sexual manner at the office. The lawsuit alleges that management took no action after the woman complained about Dr. Amundson pulling her hair, picking her up and touching her hips, waist and buttocks.
After the initial complaints, Dr. Amundson allegedly continued to sexually harass the woman. She claims he grabbed her by the hips and pressed his groin into her buttocks. After this was reported, a member of the clinic's management team allegedly witnessed another inappropriate incident and contacted human resources about the situation, according to the report.
According to the lawsuit, human resources responded by trying to transfer the woman out of the office. When she refused, HCA allegedly made her working conditions "so intolerable that no reasonable person … would have continued working in the center," according to The Kansas City Star.
Regarding the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the Spine and Sports Medicine Center provided the following statement to The Kansas City Star: "We take employee complaints seriously and are committed to providing a safe and productive environment for all of our colleagues. We encourage colleagues to bring forward any complaints and have a process in place to investigate concerns and take action to prevent discrimination, retaliation and harassment."
Dr. Amundson, who declined to comment to The Kansas City Star, no longer works at Kansas City Spine and Sports Medicine Center.
The lawsuit, which claims sexual discrimination, retaliation and battery, names several defendants, including Nashville-based HCA Healthcare and Dr. Amundson.
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