Hush, Hush, Hush Sex scandles at Southside Regionial Medical Center.
By Virginia Times Staff
Jan 12, 2005, 17:00
Doctors Thomas Ross, Jujjavarapu Rayudu and Barton Smith, are all partners of Tri City Surgical Associates, but they practice mainly at Southside Regional Medical Center.
While there are numerous allegations by eyewitnesses regarding their conduct, the allegations particularly surround Dr. Ross.
All three doctors have declined to comment.
One of the eyewitnesses says they shockingly witnessed on many occasions inappropriate behavior of Dr. Ross.
The eyewitness told the Virginia Times that while the hospital came under leadership of Dr. Thomas Ross, a former chief of staff, they saw him engage in unethical conduct that included him sharing ribald jokes with operating room personnel, and at other times, being involved while strippers were brought in.
"They brought strippers into the operating room multiple times, the eyewitness said. [Another time] I saw two female strippers in the operating room. "Dr. Ross was involved" on both occasions, the eyewitness said.
Additionally, another time, "while one nurse was coming through the sterile corridor, I saw Dr. Ross fondle her," the eyewitness said.
"He ran up from behind her. He cupped her bust and she kicked him," the eyewitness said. "But a lot of the nurses allowed him to fondle them and I saw that."
"At first he didn’t do a lot of stuff - just mostly joked,"the eyewitness said. "This all happened within a public place the operating room suite. It started out as sexual jokes,then went into acts, like touch-ing on the buttocks, hugging,you know," said the eyewitness. "Fondling more or less," the eyewitness said.
"It was one lady that danced. She always had on a scrubs set, but never took off her clothes," said the eyewitness.The eyewitness said while the strippers also never got naked,that they danced during their operating room trysts.
The eyewitness said if the dancers ever got naked, that behavior probably occurred in the doctors’ lounge, but that the male stripper who was completely naked chased the nurse from the urology suite. "I was shocked," said the eyewitness.
The eyewitness said the time they saw Dr. Ross fondle the nurse, he noticed someone was watching.
"But he never changed his attitude. He just kept doing whathe was doing until she hit him.Then he left her alone, because she wasn’t receptive," the eyewitness said.
"There were also parties ands ometimes I saw them do their little play things, but not when the patients were in the room.
"[Dr. Ross] was kind of slow getting into that, because it was various different doctors doing that kind of thing before him,"the eyewitness said.
Said the eyewitness, "despite hearing that some complaints were filed, he kept doing it again and again because he got the support of the administration.
"But after the problem the last year with the male stripper, they began to crack down on him,"the eyewitness said.Revelations of the sex scandals at Southside Regional MedicalCenter clearly show a corrupt peer system.
Doctors who witnessed the sexual harassment and filed complaints were hushed by the Peer Review. But in this scandal of "hush, hush," the HospitalAuthority and Executive Com-mittee members are all involved. (Virginia Hackney, an attorney at the law firm of Hunton & Williams, represents the Medical Executive Committee.)
This shows that the Peer Review committee at the hospital is the lowest in the nation at any standards, per HCQA guidelines. This kind of scandal also demonstrates that in the process, there has been a lack of patient care.
And, what about the entire Peer Review process?
It’s lost its credibility in the hospital, as this is how the Hospital Authority members and doctors cover up for each other.
Editor’s Note: This is a letter in unedited form that was given a while ago to the Virginia Times. It was written to former Petersburg City Councilman Joe East.
Dear Mr. East,
For some time I have been reading about your jousting with the Hospital Authority concerning the proposed building of new hospital in the city of Petersburg. Unfortunately, your attempts to "unseat" the Authority have been miss directed. Instead, you should have been inquiring into the things that are "hidden" by the Authority, its attorney, and the administrator from public view.
Currently, there is a very serious "sex harassment" scandal within the Surgical operating suite. This involves the chief of staff (Tom Ross), an anesthologist, the administrator (David Dunham), the Hospital attorney (Sam Johnson), an attorney for Dr. Ross and a second attorney for the Hospital Staff.
Sexual harassment charges were brought forth against the above two physicians at the time when Dr. Ben Rice was the Chief of Staff. Suites and counter suites (blackmail) were brought forth. Because of confl icting charges against Dr. Ross were dismissed. However the anesthologist did have to attend 50 or more hours of "counseling". Unfortunately, The Authority, the administrator and the hospital attorney remain unaccountable.
The Authority, attorney, administrator, and chief of staff should be called before the City Council and made accountable for their truly disquesting actions. If not, the health care of the community will be eventually affected.
A concerned Citizen |