In the Wake of Scandal, Pressure Mounts on BIDMC Board to Fire Paul Levy

1199SEIU and others have called on the Board of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to fire CEO Paul Levy.  Click here to read the full article on 1199seiu.org.  

 The health workers say Levy is no longer fit to lead  BIDMC,  after the release of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's report describing how the CEOs “continued, repeated and acknowledged failure to appreciate and address”  a situation  involving his inappropriate relationship with a subordinate employee. That failure, said the Attorney General, may have fostered a perception “within the workforce that personal relationships trump professional qualifications” at the renowned Harvard teaching hospital.  "It is now clear the entire board should have been informed and taken action years before the lodging of the Complaint,” said Coakley.  

At the same time, BIDMC had as few as three women members amongst the Board of 15 and currently counts only one woman among the chiefs of its 14 major clinical departments. Two women chiefs have left under Levy’s tenure, and one, Dr. Carol Warfield [Click for press coverage], filed a gender discrimination lawsuit naming Levy, alleging that she was forced to endure “sexist rants and demeaning conduct… and the insistence on the part of the Hospital’s CEO that she tolerate such misconduct as part of the price of being Chief.” The hospital expended significant resources to defend Levy, fighting unsuccessfully against Warfield’s right to sue for discrimination all the way to Massachusetts’ highest court in an attempt to deny her and other employees their civil rights and the full protection of anti-discrimination laws.

Protestors: Hang Paul Levy out to dry

September 26, 2010 Mad Men of Boston (Joan Vennochi)
September 2, 2010  AG urges Beth Israel to rethink CEO’s fitness
May 19, 2010 Attitudes at altitudes
May 9, 2010  How not to run a hospital

September 9, 2010 Pressure mounts on Beth Israel board to fire Levy

September 7, 2010 Executives Gone Wild: Paying the Price for Personal Conduct