Settlement reached in Dr. Aysha Khoury's lawsuit against the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Aysha Khoury is pleased to announce the settlement of her lawsuit  and withdrawal of her National Labor Relations Board charge against the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine ("KPSOM").  Dr. Khoury is represented by Lisa Holder of the Law Offices of Lisa Holder, and Nathan Smith and Anita Wu of Brown, Neri, Smith & Khan LLP.

Dr. Khoury alleged in her lawsuit that on August 28, 2020, Dr. Khoury facilitated a small group session on racially disparate treatment of black patients in medicine and spoke from the heart about her own experiences with bias. Nine hours later the KPSOM administration discharged her from her teaching duties and told her they did not want to see her, pending an investigation into her classroom activities. She was replaced with a white male instructor. Dr. Khoury's small group students wrote letters to KPSOM's administration reporting that none of them complained to the school, that the class represented the most enlightening hour of their medical school education - one that would resonate with them throughout their medical careers, and that Dr. Khoury's participation was critical to achieving KPSOM's stated DEI mission.

Dr. Khoury further alleged that although the KPSOM investigation found that Dr. Khoury did nothing wrong in the classroom, leading to her reinstatement with the Kaiser Medical Group as a clinical physician, KPSOM refused to reinstate her to the faculty. To the contrary, after Dr. Khoury reported and publicly complained of KPSOM's discrimination, retaliation and lack of due process, KPSOM further retaliated against her by reversing its offer to extend her contract and permanently discharging her. 

Dr. Khoury and KPSOM join in the following statement:

The Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and Dr. Aysha Khoury are pleased to announce that they have resolved Dr. Khoury's civil case and a National Labor Relations Board proceeding. The Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine was founded with a primary objective of advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical education and health care. The settlement includes a demonstrable commitment by the School to conduct further examination of its practices relating to diversity, equity, inclusion and implicit bias in medical education and to enhance those practices as well as share learning to positively influence medical education overall. There has not been any court or agency finding as to the merits of Dr. Khoury's claims or the School's defenses, as the parties were able to reach a settlement, allowing the parties to move forward with their shared goal of educating the next generation of physicians.

Dr. Khoury wishes to thank all the people who supported her during this challenging time – deans, professors, doctors, students, thousands of social media supporters. Your support was essential.

Going forward, while honoring her agreement with KPSOM, Dr. Khoury will continue to advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in medical education . She will continue to fight implicit bias. And she will continue to share her experience at KPSOM in the hopes that others experiencing similar discrimination will know they are not alone.

SOURCE Brown, Neri, Smith & Khan LLP