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This Safe Healthcare for All Coalition calls on the New York State Legislature to pass legislation that addresses gender and racial discrimination rampant in our healthcare institutions. Toxic workplaces not only harm healthcare workers, but they impact patient outcomes. We are working toward a safe healthcare environment where medical staff, students, and patients, are treated with dignity and respect, and are supported to address misconduct in their workplace.

Our Coalition Partners

  • Up to 56% of medical students and residents report experiencing gender discrimination during their training. 31% report race discrimination, and 48% report sexual harassment. 1
  • Among female faculty in academic medical centers, between 47% to 70% report having experienced gender-based discrimination. 2
  • Rates of discrimination are comparatively higher among professionals of color; in one study, 59- 71% of Black physicians reported workplace discrimination compared to 6-29% of white physicians. 3
  • Workplace discrimination and harassment causes healthcare professionals to decline leadership opportunities, leave their institutions, and, in some cases, leave their field altogether. 4

When female healthcare workers and those from diverse backgrounds leave the healthcare system, our patients ultimately become less safe.

Although discrimination and harassment are rampant in the healthcare workplace, failures of internal processes and lack of secure and independent reporting systems create unacceptable risk of retaliation for those reporting.  This results in low rates of reporting and, ultimately, in ongoing harm to employees and patients.

Recently, Dr. Robert Hadden of Columbia University Medical Center, was found guilty of sexually abusing a staggering number of women under his care. Over two decades, Columbia silenced and covered over suspicions about his behavior, enabling his abuse of over 300 female patients during two decades of practice.  One physician who had been employed at Columbia stated, “I would like to think if I was still at Columbia, I would go on the record, but I could see how the threat of repercussions would keep people from speaking”. 5

We believe workplace protections for healthcare workers are essential to provide the best care to patients. Healthcare employees and trainees must be safe and supported to call out discrimination, harassment and misconduct in the healthcare workplace to protect each other, protect their patients, and provide effective healthcare for NYS communities.

References:

  1.  Fnais, Naif MS; Soobiah, Charlene; Chen, Maggie Hong PhD, MSc; Lillie, Erin MSc; Perrier, Laure MLIS; Tashkhandi, Mariam MD; Straus, Sharon E. MD, MSc; Mamdani, Muhammad PharmD, MA, MPH; Al-Omran, Mohammed MD, MSc; Tricco, Andrea C. PhD, MSc. Harassment and Discrimination in Medical Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Academic Medicine 89(5):p 817-827, May 2014. 
  2. Phyllis L. Carr, Arlene S. Ash, Robert H. Friedman, et al. Faculty Perceptions of Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment in Academic Medicine. Ann Intern Med.2000;132:889-896. 
  3. Filut A, Alvarez M, Carnes M. Discrimination Toward Physicians of Color: A Systematic Review. J Natl Med Assoc. 2020 Apr;112(2):117-140. doi: 10.1016/j.jnma.2020.02.008. Epub 2020 Mar 18.
  4. Consensus Study Report Highlights. Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine based on the Report Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2018). www.nationalacademies.org/sexualharassment.
  5. How Columbia Ignored Women, Undermined Prosecutors and Protected a Predator For More Than 20 Years. Bianca Fortis, ProPublica, Laura Beil, New York Magazine, Sept. 12, 2023

Our proposed Safe Healthcare for All Accountability Bill includes two components:

  1. Transparent Data Collection and Sharing: A mandate for healthcare and academic medical institutions to collect data on discrimination and harassment from their employees, trainees and patients, and to provide this data to agencies such as the NYS Department of Health for release to the public.  
  2. Safe Reporting: A mandate for healthcare institutions to provide independent, third-party reporting systems, to ensure that their employees, trainees and patients have a safe and confidential way to report incidents of discrimination and harassment without fear of retaliation by the institution.

Who We Are

We are a group of concerned healthcare staff, employees and patients who are organizing to ensure healthcare remains safe for our patients and fellow workers. Our advocacy has led to the passage of a 2021 bill to establish an Advisory Board for Race and Gender Equity in Healthcare in New York City. Join us to build a coalition to advance Safe Healthcare for All. 
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