#MeTooMedicine Exposes Sexual Abuse in Surgery
A nurse stands up to a powerful surgeon and health system.
C
aught on an overhead security camera and catapulted into the
public consciousness by the #MeTooMedicine movement, the
grainy footage shows a prominent cataract surgeon shoving a
charge nurse in the base of the head with his left hand — a shove so
violent that it lifted the surgeon off his feet and sent the nurse flying
out of camera range.
If you've yet to see Kerry Assil, MD, assault Paula Rickey, RN, take a
look here osmag.net/NJKha3, but viewer discretion is advised because
the 36-second YouTube clip will no doubt infuriate you.
Not because it's the type of violence you'd expect to see in a back alley
rather than in an OR hallway of a Beverly Hills surgery center, but
because the alleged abuser is an all-powerful surgeon who is a part
owner and medical director of the 90210 Surgery Center and the accuser
is the 26-year-old nurse pictured below who had the audacity to ask Dr.
Almighty if he was nearly done with his case because his
block time was nearly up and an orthopedic surgeon was
wondering when he could start his first case.
"He cursed at me and told me that we can mind our
own business," says Ms. Rickey of the exchange that
took place inside the OR.
Ms. Rickey says she rolled her eyes and laughed
him off as she turned to walk away. That's when she
says Dr. Assil shoved her from behind.
"I hurt his ego," she says. "I made him feel not as
important as what he thinks he is."
And then she says her employer, the Cedars-Sinai
Health System, which owns the 90210 Surgery Center,
made matters worse by failing to prevent or correct the
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Editor's Page
Dan O'Connor
Paula Rickey, RN
