The celebrity doctor claims he was canned for political and race-related reasons

I just rolled my eyes so hard I’m shocked they’re not stuck in the back of my head.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) surgery resident Eugene Gu, 32, became an internet star after he sued President Donald Trump for blocking him on Twitter. Gu tweeted his support for Colin Kaepernick, the ringleader of the NFL’s anthem-kneeling protest.

Now Dr. Gu claims Vanderbilt refused to renew his contract politics and racism instead of taking responsibility for his actions. Gu’s claims don’t tell the whole story. The hospital refused to renew Gu’s contract due to disciplinary action for “work performance and professionalism.”

From The Tennessean:

“The take-home message here is that there is an unwritten rule for surgical residents and that is rule is, always make your program look good and always make your hospital look good, and often that means stay silent,” Gu said. “But as an Asian-American physician, unlike a white doctor, I don’t always have the same luxury to stay silent.” Vanderbilt said in an email statement Friday that the decision not to renew Gu’s contract was not a result of his criticism of Trump, his lawsuit, or his public opposition to racism. The hospital has said previously that all disciplinary actions against Gu relate to his work performance and professionalism. “Regarding other allegations that Dr. Gu is making about the Medical Center, I would ask that you please consider these as allegations and nothing more,” John Howser, a spokesman for the hospital, said in the email. “To date, we have not engaged in a point by point rebuttal of Dr. Gu’s many claims over the past two-plus years. At this time we will continue to maintain this stance.”

When you have nothing left, pull the race card!

The Duke Chronicle reported in January that VUMC placed Gu on administrative leave in November 2017. A patient’s mother supposedly complained about Gu after he took a knee to protest white supremacy.

VUMC said officials placed him on administrative leave due to performance issues. They used the same reason in their decision not to renew his contract:

After an appeal, a May 17 letter to Gu from VUMC General Counsel Michael Regier—delivered at the request of Jeffrey Balser, president and CEO of VUMC—cited a “lack of sufficient improvement in performance and conduct in key areas” after the probation. The letter, which was obtained by The Chronicle, indicated that the most “significant areas of concern” were “patient care, communication, and medical knowledge.”

Gu claimed that the work environment at Vanderbilt became hostile after his leave and VUMC’s response went public. He said one time his colleague “nit-picked” his details on a consult call since he didn’t provide what he found irrelevant information.

Now all we have is Gu’s word because VUMC has repeated over and over that the hospital has a “policy against discussing ‘specific performance issues of our employees.'” Here’s a good point:

PS: The percentage of Asian surgeons in the U.S. is over 4 times as large as their percentage of the general population. Whites are underrepresented compared to their share of the U.S. population. Eugene is grasping at straws. — neontaster (@neontaster) June 11, 2018

Um…Vanderbilt was right. You don’t tweet about patient interactions that can potentially be traced back to that patient…it simply is unethical. For you to whine about it now shows you didn’t learn anything in the first place. https://t.co/5gaacwVoYu — Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 8, 2018

If you, as a medical professional, had a problem (and maybe there was a legit problem here) you talk to them IN PRIVATE LIKE A PROFESSIONAL. Not like a little toddler wanting to have a public tantrum. — Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 8, 2018

Furthermore…though we don’t like it…patients get to pick their doctors. EVEN RACIST PATIENTS. I’ve had this happen to me. I walked out, handed the chart to someone else, and moved on. It isn’t fun, and it isn’t right, but it is what medical professionals do. — Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 8, 2018

Also, considering the way Gu has acted here…I don’t think we should take his word about retaliation. Maybe he is right, but I wouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt on that. — Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) June 8, 2018

[Featured image via YouTube]



