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In this moment, the future of our rights, our bodily autonomy, our freedom feels uncertain. What we do next will make a difference for decades to come.
We Just Filed a Complaint Against a Health Care Provider For Sexually Harassing a Patient
Today, we filed a complaint with a state Board of Chiropractic on behalf of one of our clients who was sexually harassed by her chiropractor. At almost every appointment, our client was subjected to sexually charged comments about her appearance, questions about her sexual knowledge and experience, and had to fend off requests to meet outside of the provider’s office.
Unfortunately, as I hear every day through the National Women’s Law Center Fund’s Legal Network for Gender Equity, sexual harassment, assault, and violence is pervasive in our health care system.
Patients across the country have been sexually harassed or assaulted by their health care providers.
- A California provider placed a chair against the exam room door to keep people from coming in and sexually assaulted his patient.
- While examining a patient for neck pain after a car accident, a provider reached under a patient’s shirt and groped her.
- USC’s gynecologist George Tyndall sexually harassed and assaulted his patients for decades.
- And who can forget Larry Nassar, the former doctor for the U.S. Olympic gymnastics program who abused more than 150 women and girls?
Enough is enough.
We are asking the D.C. Board of Chiropractic to make sure that what happened to our client doesn’t happen to any other patient.
Because sexual assault or harassment by a provider is devastating to patient health and wellbeing and prevents patients from getting the care they need. It also constitutes unlawful sex discrimination in health care.
Every patient should be able to get the care they need free from harassment or discrimination.
(If you or someone you know has been sexually harassed or discriminated against, it is important to know your rights and what legal options are available to you. You can contact the National Women’s Law Center Fund’s Legal Network for Gender Equity/TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund at (202) 319-3053 or https://nwlc.org/legal-assistance.)
