- Joined
- May 28, 2017
- Messages
- 132
- Reaction score
- 184
TL;DR- Mom's department chose to hire a physician who sexually and physically assaults his colleagues over another physician who suffered from depression in the past
Hey all, just thought I'd share this story my mom shared with me recently. Warning: If you do not want to be disheartened/want to read something positive then keep scrolling, this is not the thread for you. I'm not really sure why I'm sharing this; I think I'm just extremely tired and fed up with this system that continuously undermines mental health struggles and justifies stigmatizing and discriminating against physicians/students with mental health issues. Disclaimer: Apologies if I don't use proper terminology/nail all the nuances of the processes I'm about to describe, I promise I'm doing my best. Anyway, enough rambling, here's the story:
My mom is a pulmonologist and works for a mid-size hospital system in the Midwest. Two years ago, she took it upon herself to earn her MBA and my entire family was super proud of her; she very recently graduated and now is being included in a lot of the hiring processes for new physicians in her department. A couple weeks ago, she came home and seemed pretty upset, which is unusual for her. She's typically very peppy and resilient so whenever she's down in the dumps, I always know something either went wrong or that she's feeling conflicted about something. Turns out it was the latter. I asked her for details, and she told me that her department currently has one open spot but that the other physicians in her department and the hospital administrators are stuck between two attractive candidates, as both have their "pros and cons," as she worded it. Wanting to help her talk through this, I asked her to name off the pros and cons of each candidate to see if things became clearer to her as she articulated them. I was NOT expecting what came next.
(Keep in mind everything that follows comes from what my mom told me after a very long, stressful day so I apologize if there are gaps/details missing)
Candidate 1 (I'll call him C1 from now on) came from a well known medical school and residency program in pulmonology. He had very strong recommendations and interviewing skills, and everyone in my mom's department really liked him. However, my mom and her colleagues expressed concern over a 2 year gap between his residency and fellowship in interventional pulmonology. They asked him what he did in those two years, maybe research, maybe volunteer work, they guessed. According to my mom, he heaved a heavy sigh and simply said "I was suffering from severe depression." He told them that he was severely depressed (though he never took anti-depressants) for a while and had gone to live with his mom for a while in order to get better. After a couple years, he applied for and was accepted into an interventional pulmonology fellowship. (Keep in mind that the 2 year gap was not in between his fellowship and right now, it was between his residency and fellowship, so he's been back in the hospital seeing patients for a while).
Candidate 2 (I'll call him C2) also came from a well-respected medical school and residency (though not as reputable as C1's program, according to my mom), but he was the polar opposite in almost every way. He was charming and had good people skills, but apparently this was the kind of guy that makes those medical dramas like Grey's seem realistic with how he carried himself. Apparently, it came out in the interview that he was fired from his previous job because he was sleeping with a bunch of the female residents and making advances on them constantly (even when they firmly told him to knock it off) despite the fact that he was married with children. The final straw was when he physically assaulted one of his colleagues by punching him and breaking his nose over what my mom implied was little more than a petty disagreement.
I laughed so loudly after my mom described C2- he literally seemed like a movie character. I asked my mom why she was so down in the dumps when clearly C1 was the right choice to hire. And that's when I discovered why she was so distraught. Apparently everyone but her liked C2 more. I was flabbergasted. Even though he connected so well with everyone, had fantastic training from great schools, and was fresh off fellowship training, her department couldn't look past the fact that C1 had severe depression in the past. He never took a single anti-depressant (not that this should impact things anyway), never caused harm to anyone (his response to depression was to go live with and help elderly mother!), and never did ANYTHING to draw negative attention to himself other than have depression. My mom said she was picking his file apart later trying to find something, ANYTHING else negative that perhaps she missed, but there was nothing, as her colleagues straight up told her that they were worried about how someone who had depression in the past would fare around patients long term. Um, I'm sorry, what about the guy who literally ASSAULTS his male colleagues and sexually harasses his female colleagues? We're not worried about how he would fare around patients long term? If you're my mom's department, apparently you're not. Apparently C2, though "rough around the edges," is a better "fit" than C1 because he can "handle himself better around patients" and won't have any "potential unforeseen breakdowns."
Hearing my mom narrate what her colleagues said made me nauseous. This is absolutely disgusting. I knew there was a stigma against discussing mental illness in medical school apps, but I can't believe that mentioning you had depression in the past has the potential to literally ruin your entire career. I am so disheartened by this and just wanted some place to vent/share. I'm sorry for the wall of text, but please let me know your thoughts.
Hey all, just thought I'd share this story my mom shared with me recently. Warning: If you do not want to be disheartened/want to read something positive then keep scrolling, this is not the thread for you. I'm not really sure why I'm sharing this; I think I'm just extremely tired and fed up with this system that continuously undermines mental health struggles and justifies stigmatizing and discriminating against physicians/students with mental health issues. Disclaimer: Apologies if I don't use proper terminology/nail all the nuances of the processes I'm about to describe, I promise I'm doing my best. Anyway, enough rambling, here's the story:
My mom is a pulmonologist and works for a mid-size hospital system in the Midwest. Two years ago, she took it upon herself to earn her MBA and my entire family was super proud of her; she very recently graduated and now is being included in a lot of the hiring processes for new physicians in her department. A couple weeks ago, she came home and seemed pretty upset, which is unusual for her. She's typically very peppy and resilient so whenever she's down in the dumps, I always know something either went wrong or that she's feeling conflicted about something. Turns out it was the latter. I asked her for details, and she told me that her department currently has one open spot but that the other physicians in her department and the hospital administrators are stuck between two attractive candidates, as both have their "pros and cons," as she worded it. Wanting to help her talk through this, I asked her to name off the pros and cons of each candidate to see if things became clearer to her as she articulated them. I was NOT expecting what came next.
(Keep in mind everything that follows comes from what my mom told me after a very long, stressful day so I apologize if there are gaps/details missing)
Candidate 1 (I'll call him C1 from now on) came from a well known medical school and residency program in pulmonology. He had very strong recommendations and interviewing skills, and everyone in my mom's department really liked him. However, my mom and her colleagues expressed concern over a 2 year gap between his residency and fellowship in interventional pulmonology. They asked him what he did in those two years, maybe research, maybe volunteer work, they guessed. According to my mom, he heaved a heavy sigh and simply said "I was suffering from severe depression." He told them that he was severely depressed (though he never took anti-depressants) for a while and had gone to live with his mom for a while in order to get better. After a couple years, he applied for and was accepted into an interventional pulmonology fellowship. (Keep in mind that the 2 year gap was not in between his fellowship and right now, it was between his residency and fellowship, so he's been back in the hospital seeing patients for a while).
Candidate 2 (I'll call him C2) also came from a well-respected medical school and residency (though not as reputable as C1's program, according to my mom), but he was the polar opposite in almost every way. He was charming and had good people skills, but apparently this was the kind of guy that makes those medical dramas like Grey's seem realistic with how he carried himself. Apparently, it came out in the interview that he was fired from his previous job because he was sleeping with a bunch of the female residents and making advances on them constantly (even when they firmly told him to knock it off) despite the fact that he was married with children. The final straw was when he physically assaulted one of his colleagues by punching him and breaking his nose over what my mom implied was little more than a petty disagreement.
I laughed so loudly after my mom described C2- he literally seemed like a movie character. I asked my mom why she was so down in the dumps when clearly C1 was the right choice to hire. And that's when I discovered why she was so distraught. Apparently everyone but her liked C2 more. I was flabbergasted. Even though he connected so well with everyone, had fantastic training from great schools, and was fresh off fellowship training, her department couldn't look past the fact that C1 had severe depression in the past. He never took a single anti-depressant (not that this should impact things anyway), never caused harm to anyone (his response to depression was to go live with and help elderly mother!), and never did ANYTHING to draw negative attention to himself other than have depression. My mom said she was picking his file apart later trying to find something, ANYTHING else negative that perhaps she missed, but there was nothing, as her colleagues straight up told her that they were worried about how someone who had depression in the past would fare around patients long term. Um, I'm sorry, what about the guy who literally ASSAULTS his male colleagues and sexually harasses his female colleagues? We're not worried about how he would fare around patients long term? If you're my mom's department, apparently you're not. Apparently C2, though "rough around the edges," is a better "fit" than C1 because he can "handle himself better around patients" and won't have any "potential unforeseen breakdowns."
Hearing my mom narrate what her colleagues said made me nauseous. This is absolutely disgusting. I knew there was a stigma against discussing mental illness in medical school apps, but I can't believe that mentioning you had depression in the past has the potential to literally ruin your entire career. I am so disheartened by this and just wanted some place to vent/share. I'm sorry for the wall of text, but please let me know your thoughts.
