Killer doc alleged harassment at Kingsbrook
May 15, 2010 02:21 IST
Problems between Dr Vajinder Pal Toor and Dr Lishang Wang started early 2008. Wang alleged in the lawsuit that Toor unfairly targeted him. A confrontation between Toor and Wang occurred on May 15, 2008, when Wang was accused of leaving his post in the intensive care unit and being incommunicado for several hours. Hospital staff paged him for hours while a patient was dying. Toor was then called, as he was the chief resident. Toor found Wang sitting and studying in the library. When confronted, Wang reportedly told Toor that this was not India and threatened him in front of other employees.
In his lawsuit, Wang claimed that he was always available. Wang was suspended with pay May 22, 2008, and fired in July 2008.
'To keep this anger for years and come back to do something like that is truly bad. He had so much hatred for the hospital,' a Kingsbrook doctor told the New York Post. In the suit, Wang said he was unfairly labeled excitable, emotional and unable to control his anger. 'He was mentally unstable. Many doctors said he was violent,' a doctor who began his internal medicine residency at Kingsbrook in 2006 told the Post.
In his lawsuit, Wang accused Indian doctors of humiliating Chinese residents. He also said Chinese residents had to write explanations for minor mistakes, while others were spared. 'In April 2008, Dr Wang observed Dr Vajinder, the chief resident for the department of medicine, single out two Chinese residents and humiliated them verbally in front of all the other medical residents during a morning conference,' the suit alleged.
But the human resource department sided with Toor and said that Wang was too sick to hear what Toor said. Wang said for the first time he realized that the hospital perceived him as being disabled in that he may suffer from mental impairment that impacted on his ability to perceive. Though he took up another job in a clinic, it did not last long. 'I presume my medical career has ended, although I have done my duty and adhered to the principle of 'doing no harm' as a physician towards my patients, which in my opinion, should be the greatest, if not only, barometer to judge a physician," a posting on the American Justice Web site attributed to Wang said.
'I feel that I should do my part to uncover what has happened in the past at KJMC, so that abuses do not occur in the future, and patients and residents will no longer be mistreated. To fight against KJMC is like King David against Goliath (the Giant). I need your help.' 
'To keep this anger for years and come back to do something like that is truly bad. He had so much hatred for the hospital,' a Kingsbrook doctor told the New York Post. In the suit, Wang said he was unfairly labeled excitable, emotional and unable to control his anger. 'He was mentally unstable. Many doctors said he was violent,' a doctor who began his internal medicine residency at Kingsbrook in 2006 told the Post.