doctor sues ottawa hospital for $2.3m in alleged bullying, sexual harassment case
6 minute read
dr. marisa azad's lawsuit claims she suffered further ongoing bullying and harassment in the fallout from a harassment investigation by the ottawa hospital.
courtesy dr. marisa azad
an ottawa doctor and scientist, whose first-in-canada trial of a novel way of treating lethal artificial joint infections made national news, has filed a $2.3 million lawsuit against her hospital over the bullying and sexual harassment an independent investigation found she had suffered by two male colleagues.
infectious diseases physician marisa azad is accusing the ottawa hospital of failing to take promised “corrective action” against the two orthopedic surgeons and allowing the bullying to continue in retaliation for her harassment complaint.
she’s being represented by the law firm of marie henein, one of canada’s most prominent litigators.
as first reported by the ottawa citizen’s elizabeth payne, the ottawa hospital last year apologized to azad after a third-party investigation found she had been the victim of a repeated pattern of bullying, harassment and retaliation by dr. hesham abdelbary and dr. george grammatopoulos, as well as sexual harassment by grammatopoulos.
in response to the findings, the hospital’s chief of staff, dr. virginia roth, wrote to azad, describing the conduct as behaviour that not only contravenes hospital policy, “it falls far short of our expectations for collegial and respectful professional interactions.”
“i can confirm that corrective actions will be taken,” roth wrote. allegations against two other doctors were not substantiated.
however, azad’s suit claims she suffered further ongoing bullying and harassment in the fallout from the harassment investigation. among other allegations, the civil action claims the findings were minimized and azad characterized “as an unstable woman making unfounded complaints against her male colleagues” during an emergency orthopedic divisional meeting held after the citizen story was published.
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the suit also alleges the hospital “still has not imposed meaningful corrective action, if any at all” and, instead, has “continuously protected” and “repeatedly favoured” abdelbary and grammatopoulos by promoting, supporting or assisting them in obtaining new appointments and research grants.
“dr. azad continues to be ostracized, harassed and retaliated against by her colleagues in the pji (prosthetic joint infection) surgical group,” according to the claim.
the allegations have not been proven in court. in a statement to national post, the hospital said it will be filing a statement of defence “in due course.”
“the ottawa hospital (toh) is aware of a lawsuit by a member of its medical staff against the hospital and other staff members concerning a workplace complaint,” the hospital said in a statement.
“at toh, we are committed to fostering a respectful, cooperative and professional workplace, free from discrimination, harassment and violence.”
the hospital declined to comment further, citing the ongoing litigation.
in addition to abdelbary and grammatopoulos, the lawsuit also lists roth and dr. jonathan angel, then division head of the hospital’s infectious disease department, as defendants. roth and angel declined comment, through the hospital.
abdelbary and grammatopoulos did not respond to requests for comment.
azad’s suit claims the harassment has taken an emotional toll.
she was diagnosed with breast cancer on her birthday last july, and recently completed surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. she is currently on medical leave until may.
an associate professor at the university of ottawa, azad specializes in treating people whose artificial hips or knees have become “infected nightmares,” according to a new scientist profile published by the hospital’s research institute three years ago. the infections “are truly just so brutal on patients,” azad told the post. “we don’t know how to diagnose them very well and treat them and prevent them from coming back.”
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in spring 2024, azad led a team that treated the first person in canada with bacteriophage (phage) therapy for an infected hip joint.
the 79-year-old woman, thea turcotte, had been an active senior until she broke her hip and pelvis after slipping on ice. she developed a multi-drug resistant infection in her hip that standard treatment and 10 operations couldn’t fix. “she was going to die from this infection,” azad said in an interview. “there were no other surgical or antibiotic options left.”
azad turned to phage therapy — viruses that target and attack bacteria, replicating inside them, while leaving human cells alone. experimental in canada, phage therapy is common in eastern europe. today, turcotte is “great,” azad said. “she’s having tea parties. she’s lovely. she’s alive.”
in her suit, azad alleges that she first began experiencing bullying while a resident at the hospital but hoped the power dynamics would change when she was brought on staff as an associate clinician researcher in 2022. a plan was put in place for her to help build a weekly pji clinic, run through the orthopedic department, modelled after a program she’d observed while on a fellowship at the mayo clinic in rochester, minn.
the bullying continued, and then intensified after the phage trial received significant media attention, according to her claim.
in an email copied to her superiors, grammatopoulos congratulated azad on the trial but claimed never having heard about it beforehand, adding it would be “embarrassing” to see the family and not know if they had been involved in the study, according to the statement of claim.
azad responded that the therapy “had, in fact, been discussed and recorded” in the patient charts, and that grammatopoulos had earlier rejected her offer to act as surgical lead in the study, the suit states.
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weeks later, the surgical group retaliated “by having dr. azad removed from the pji clinic and refusing to work with her,” according to the claim.
the orthopedic surgeons complained to angel, azad’s supervisor, that they were having “issues” with her, that working with her “remains difficult” and that “the relationship needs to end immediately,” according to the civil action.
the particulars of the surgeons’ complaints were not disclosed to azad, nor was she given an opportunity to respond, the claim states.
azad alleges that she repeatedly tried to report bullying and harassment to hospital staff. in july 2024, she filed a formal workplace and harassment complaint that included grammatopoulos “massaging and touching” her arms and shoulders, lifting her up by the waist at a workplace dinner in front of colleagues and their spouses, “and on one occasion touching her inner thighs while discussing patient care in between clinic appointments,” according to the lawsuit.
the third party investigation later found that grammatopoulos had engaged in conduct that meets the definition of workplace sexual harassment by placing his hands on azad’s thighs without her consent during clinic, referring to her as a “girl” and “making a comment with respect to dr. azad’s physical appearance that had sexual undertones,” according to an executive summary of the findings.
abdelbary was found to have engaged in “retaliatory action” after azad brought up concerns over his use of grant funds without prior discussion.
the ottawa hospital.
tony caldwell/postmedia/file
the investigation also found that he attempted to interfere with azad’s research work with a winnipeg company on phage therapy and that he supported retaliatory action led by grammatoupolos to exclude her from doing certain patient rounds.
by september, 2024, azad’s previously managed underlying autoimmune diseases had flared up, causing stiff and painful joints and other stress-related symptoms that made it difficult to carry out her work and on-call duties, the suit states. azad claims that, at an ad hoc meeting of a division of infectious diseases finance committee, it was decided to decrease her monthly income by half, when she was already earning less because of her reduced time in the clinic.
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azad claims in the suit that, “to her knowledge, (angel) presented the committee with false information and suggested that she was faking or exaggerating her illness. the reduction (in income) was approved on this basis.”
azad’s supervisors owed her a duty to a safe and healthy workplace in accordance with the occupational health and safety act, according to her civil suit. it also alleges that the hospital is “vicariously liable” for the individual defendants’ conduct. “at all material times, the individual defendants acted as employees, contractors, servants or agents authorized by toh and working under toh’s supervision and direction,” according to the claim.
the hospital “was obligated to ensure dr. azad was not subjected to further harm through its or its staff’s responses to dr. azad’s reports of workplace harassment and bullying, as well as the management of the workplace investigations and its finding, which toh accepted and promised to act on,” it added.
at one point, roth allegedly told azad that, while she could launch a formal workplace complaint, she was cautioned that people who do so “often feel that they need to leave the institution as a result,” the suit claims.
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