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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA former medical resident at St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital settled her sexual harassment suit against the hospital on June 5, likely for more than $1 million.
St. Vincent Health reached a settlement with Dr. Sharon Castrillon and her law firm, according to the Indianapolis Star.
Neither side would discuss terms of the deal, but The Star estimated it tops $1 million, based on the terms of a previous settlement offer Castrillon rejected as too low. In late May, St. Vincent offered to settle just the civil rights charges in the lawsuit for $750,000, plus attorney’s fees that run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to court filings.
Castrillon argued that she was due at least $8 million in damages for the way she was treated when she was a first-year resident at the hospital from summer 2008 to early 2010. Castrillon had a six-month sexual fling with Dr. Steven Gerke, who was director of St. Vincent’s resident program during Castrillon’s time there.
In a court deposition, Gerke admitted he had several sexual encounters with Castrillon at her Carmel home and twice smoked marijuana with her there. But Castrillon said Gerke retaliated against her after she ended the relationship. Castrillon claimed that Gerke eventually gave her negative performance reviews that led to her dismissal from the residency program.
The hospital said Castrillon was dismissed from its residency program in 2010 because of “performance deficiencies” on the job, including being tardy for work and failing to fully fill out patient charts.
Gerke was let go in 2009 from St. Vincent, after hospital officials became aware of his relationship with Castrillon. He is now an associate professor of medicine at Indiana University Medical Group in Indianapolis.
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