LA Superior Court found Dr. Lauren Pinter-Brown was subjected to gender discrimination and retaliation.
A jury has awarded $13 million to a former UCLA hematologist who said she was forced out of her job as director of the medical school’s lymphoma program because a male-dominated administration ignored her complaints of age and gender discrimination.
The Los Angeles Superior Court panel deliberated for about a day before finding on Feb. 15 that Dr. Lauren Pinter-Brown was subjected to gender discrimination and retaliation. The panel rejected the 63-year-old doctor’s age discrimination claim.
Pinter-Brown, an expert in T-Cell lymphoma research, wept as she heard the verdict. She said later that she hoped the jury’s decision sends a message to her former colleagues. “When someone complains about discrimination and harassment, they better listen,” Pinter-Brown said.
Phil Hampton, media relations spokesman for UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine, issued a statement that said, in part, “UCLA Health is disappointed with the jury’s verdict. We are reviewing the decision and considering all available options. UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA are committed to maintaining a workplace free from discrimination, intimidation, retaliation or harassment of any kind. Ensuring a respectful and inclusive environment is essential to the research and education carried out at UCLA’s medical school.”
Pinter-Brown testified she was repeatedly berated for her clinical trial work by a subordinate physician, Dr. Sven De Vos, who also once turned his back to her during a meeting and often interrupted her when she spoke. “I was trying to establish myself as someone who was respected,” Pinter-Brown said. “It was like the butt of a joke.”
Pinter-Brown, who was given the lymphoma program directorship in 2005, was later replaced by de Vos.
Pinter-Brown said conducting a clinical trial with the right patients is crucial so that drug companies will trust the physician in charge.
But she said that when she successfully obtained FDA approval of a particular drug for lymphoma treatment, a male colleague replied, “Should I care?” Asked by Shegerian if the drug saved lives, she replied, “Yes, it did.”
Another male colleague said Pinter-Brown should move her practice outside the university and help patients with ovarian cancer, even though her expertise was in the field of lymphoma, she said. Pinter-Brown said she made as much as $250,000 less than her male counterparts, but was told by one physician that her pay was below what men received because she had the assistance of a nurse practitioner.
Defense attorney Jason Mills said during trial that much of the conflict between Pinter-Brown and De Vos was rooted in their different ideas about how clinical trials should be conducted. In addition, some medical committee members became concerned about how Pinter-Brown’s trials were proceeding, resulting in the suspension of her research privileges in June 2012, Mills said. The research privileges were reinstated in October 2013 and Pinter-Brown was doing well, but she departed for UC Irvine in January 2016 on her own volition, he said.
“Nobody was hoping to push her out, they were hoping she would stay there,” Mills said.
