CHARLESTON – A Kanawha County jury has awarded a physician $1.3 million in a gender discrimination lawsuit against CAMC and others.
The jury award the verdict April 16 in Dr. Madison Shirkey Anderson’s lawsuit against Charleston Area Medical Center, Dr. Sharon Londeree Istfan, Cindy Burkholder and Sharon Hall.
The jury awarded Anderson $1 million in economic damages for future earnings and $340,000 in general damages for annoyance, inconvenience, aggravation, embarrassment, emotional distress, mental anguish and loss of personal dignity.
“Dr. Anderson is very pleased the jury heard her story and validated her truth,” attorney Crystal H. Castleberry told The West Virginia Record. “If CAMC appeals, we’re ready for it and are confident the verdict will stand.”
In her complaint originally filed in late 2022, Anderson claimed she was asked by Istfan to meet with Hall regarding a formal investigation into the actions of Dr. Neil Copeland, who was accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault and being under the influence of alcohol on the job.
Anderson claims she was interviewed by Hall and confirmed knowledge related to the impropriety involving Copeland that she had witnessed. The following day, Istfan asked her to speak about what happened at the meeting even though she knew the meeting was supposed to be confidential.
CAMC claimed there was no violation of public policy in the complaint and it should be dismissed, maintaining the conduct complained of in the case occurred by third parties outside of the direction and control of the defendant and the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
CAMC also argued the plaintiff wasn’t treated in a disparate manner compared to other residents in the residency program.
Similarly, Istfan says there was no breach of any contractual, statutory or common law duty owed to the plaintiff during the residency term. She also says the plaintiff was not a whistleblower as defined by the state law and that were was no adverse action taken against her as the result of her responding to questions and/or reporting information regarding WVU Medical School personnel.
On Dec. 18, 2020, Anderson and many other residents sent an e-mail to Hall and Istfan with concerns related to the fact that many female faculty members were leaving and they felt it was related to the investigation into Copeland, which did not culminate in any discipline levied against Copeland, according to the suit.
Anderson claimed the e-mailed response from the defendants told them to move on. And when she was voted to become co-chief resident, she says she met with the defendants to discuss concerns about sex discrimination but was told she was being “too cliquey” and “untrustworthy” and informed that the hospital would not honor its contract with her for the chief resident position and placed her on probation.
After Anderson took her concerns to the hospital's chief counsel, she says the defendants continued to be hostile toward her she eventually transferred out of the residency program at CAMC and into one with Marshall University.
Once she had informed CAMC she was leaving, Istfan refused to provide the necessary paperwork for the transfer, delayed the process, made defamatory statements to MU about her, threatened to file a GME report and continued to retaliate against Anderson, according to the suit.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 22-C-798