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Nurse Awarded $15 Million in Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 23, 2009
Modified Feb 23, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 23, 2009
Modified Feb 23, 2009
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Administrators at Flushing Hospital looked the other way as a doctor sexually harassed a nurse for years, culminating in a pair of violent attacks in 2001. Nurse Janet Bianco, 55, says Dr. Matthew Miller began groping and propositioning her soon after she started working at the hospital in 1993. She tells the Daily News that the 61-year-old physician, who is married, was "very bold, aggressive, he didn't even try to hide it. Patient rooms, hallways, it didn't matter. Wherever he was, it occurred. And I wasn't the only one."
Bianco says she complained to supervisors, but no action was taken, despite the fact that Dr. Miller was previously sanctioned by New York State for having a prolonged sexual relationship with an alcoholic patient for whom he was prescribing anti-anxiety drugs. Classy! Bianco says that during one incident, Dr. Miller tried to force his tongue down her throat as the hospital's medical director, Dr. Peter Barra, looked on. Then, in 2001, Miller "chased Bianco through the halls," finally cornering her in a room with two heavily sedated patients, where he "aggressively groped her below the waist."
Now, in a record-breaking payout for sexual harassment, a Queens jury has awarded Bianco $15 million, ordering the hospital and Miller split the cost. Despite his pervious—er, previous—affair with a patient and the harassment charges, Miller retains his license—though it was suspended for two months and given three years of probation because of what a state board called his "moral unfitness to practice medicine."
Tagged
flushing hospital
lawsuit
nurse
settlement
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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