Previous good reviews no Rx for M.D.’s lawsuit

At times, in writing this newsletter, I feel like an 1850s gold prospector sifting through the silt to find the nugget. The following race discrimination lawsuit against a hospital in Galveston illustrates this point.

Just the basic facts

Dr. Rosandra Daywalker graduated from medical school and entered an intensive, five-year residency program in otolaryngology at the Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. She was the only black doctor in the program and initially received positive feedback.

Let’s just say that things ultimately didn’t go well between Daywalker and the supervising doctors. She resigned and filed a lawsuit claiming, among other things, race discrimination. She lost at the trial court via dismissal without a trial, and the appeals court—in a 28-page opinion—said it was right to toss her claim.

Nugget

Daywalker claimed she resigned because she was unfairly criticized in her third-year reviews. After all, she reasoned, essentially, “I was good, and now, all of a sudden, I am bad. From this there can be an inference of unlawful race discrimination.”