Mattar v. Community Mem. Hosp.

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION

Mattar v. Community Mem.
Hosp., No. 1:04 CV 095 (N.D. Ind. Feb. 22, 2006)

The United States District
Court for the Northern District of Indiana granted a hospital’s motion for
summary judgment in an employment discrimination case, finding that a physician
had failed to produce any evidence that a hospital had fired him for discriminatory
reasons. The hospital terminated the physician’s employment for (1) waiving
patient co-payments and deductibles in violation of hospital policy and (2)
directing nurses to take x-rays, which was outside their scope of practice.
The physician claimed that he had been terminated based on his nationality
and religion. The court noted that "[t]he best evidence
[the physician] has is an unsupported suspicion." Moreover, in response
to the physician’s allegations that he had not violated hospital policy by
waiving patient deductibles and co-payments, and that consequently his termination
violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the court observed that "[the
physician] must show more than simply a wrong decision by [the hospital]. Title
VII is not violated by a bad decision; it is violated by a discriminatory one."