Former Carson City doctor involved in infection cases was accused of sexual harassment
Nearly four years before a nurse anesthetist said he was unfairly fired for complaints about a Sparrow Carson Hospital surgeon, another employee at the hospital alleged she’d been let go for complaining about the same doctor.
A surgical assistant who had a longtime romantic relationship with Dr. Raymond Allard filed her 2014 complaint with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, alleging that she was discriminated against because of her gender and weight.
A 100-page report details the department of civil rights’ investigation into the 2014 sexual harassment claims against Allard and Carson City Hospital.
The complaint, obtained by the State Journal through a Freedom of Information Act request, was filed and later withdrawn in lieu of a confidential settlement prior to the hospital’s acquisition by Sparrow Health Network in early 2015.
The report shows that the hospital’s chief executive officer knew of complaints regarding Allard’s behavior as early as 2014. CEO Matt Thompson parted ways with the hospital in February after the State Journal reported state and federal agencies were investigating the hospital's infection control procedures.
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Sparrow Carson Hospital came under the scrutiny of state and federal investigators late last year after nurse anesthetist Jonnie Vanderhoef complained of infection control issues at the hospital. Vanderhoef, whose contract with the hospital was ended shortly after he made complaints to the state, filed a whisteblower lawsuit in February.
Allard, an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital, “voluntarily” gave up his privileges at Sparrow Carson in February. The hospital has since submitted a plan to address the infection issues highlighted by federal authorities.
Allard hung up on a State Journal reporter seeking comment.
At least three other complaints about Allard, prior to Vanderhoef’s, were submitted to the state in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Those complaints were closed after some investigation and, because no action was taken, the details of the complaints were heavily redacted.
But the 2014 complaint to the department of civil rights is the first where it's clear that hospital administrators were aware at least of sexual harassment allegations against Allard.
The employee in the 2014 complaint claimed the hospital’s “male representative,” later identified as Allard, used profanity toward her, called her derogatory names, made comments about her weight and touched her in a sexual manner.
The State Journal is not identifying the woman because she is an alleged victim of sexual harassment.
When the woman reported the issue to human resources, she wrote, the hospital “discharged me, alleging I resigned.
“I deny the allegation. I believe my sex and weight were factors in my discharge.”
Among the nine witness statements included in the complaint were several in which witnesses maintained Allard told the woman to get off her “fat ass” in front of patients and colleagues, joked about patients’ injuries, commented on women's breasts, routinely hit on single female patients and patients’ daughters and told patients the complainant “needs to get laid.”
“I can’t condone or allow my insurance company to support behavior that is absolutely abhorrent to me,” one patient said in a witness statement.
A personal protection order request the employee filed in June 2014 in Montcalm County described Allard as an "employer/exlover (sic)" who "uses his position of power as a doctor to control and manipulate me." In the filing, the woman said she was advised by human resources at the hospital to obtain a PPO against Allard.
It appears from court filings that the PPO was never granted.
Ilene Cantor, vice president for marketing and communications at Sparrow Health System, released the following statement Friday:
“Sparrow Carson Hospital is unable to comment on the 2014 workplace misconduct allegations against Dr. Allard because they were part of a confidential legal matter involving a domestic dispute. We consistently strive to create the best possible work environment in all Sparrow Health System facilities.”
The hospital would eventually settle with the woman in a confidential agreement in December 2014, according to the MDCR complaint, but not before aggressively denying the woman’s claims.
A letter from the hospital’s law firm, Miller Johnson, alleged the woman discussed her resignation on several occasions with human resources and noted the claims against Allard became “even more salacious” with each successive contact the woman had with the hospital.
“Regardless of what percentage of blame is attributed to each party for this spillover, it does not constitute illegal harassment because it has nothing to do with gender or weight,” the law firm wrote in an Aug. 19, 2014 letter to the MDCR. “It has only to do with two people coping with a failed relationship.”
Nate Plantinga, the employment lawyer who filed the letter with the department of civil rights, noted that the complaint did not once mention infections.
And, he said, he remembers the case as being largely clear cut in favor of the hospital.
“That particular charge never struck me as having any particular merit,” Plantinga told the State Journal Friday. “She did resign. Not only did she resign, she had post-resignation communications with human resources that were totally normal.”
According to Plantinga’s letter, Carson Health’s then-medical director, Robert Seals, and then-chief executive officer, Matt Thompson, spoke with Allard following the woman’s complaint.
Allard admitted to a relationship with the woman but denied any sexual behavior took place at the hospital.
“He stated that he honestly could not believe the accusation,” the letter said.
Allard was reminded of Carson Health’s “expectations for professionalism.”
According to exhibits attached to the law firm’s letter, the hospital’s policy at the time discouraged romantic relationships among employees, but prohibited “relationships between members of management and associates under their direct supervision.”
Contact Beth LeBlanc at 517-377-1167 or eleblanc@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LSJBethLeBlanc.