Doctor Alleges Racist Plot by Colleagues : Black Cardiologist Sues Brotman Hospital and Eight Physicians

A black cardiologist has filed suit charging that Brotman Medical Center and eight of its doctors attempted to force him off the hospital staff in an “extreme case of economic racism.”

Dr. Donald Ware told a news conference Wednesday that because of his professional success, he was “cut down by a group of white physicians who were in competition with me.”

Ware said that when these competitors realized that he was getting an increasing share of the heart catheterization referrals at the hospital in Culver City, they conspired unsuccessfully to drive him from the staff by defaming him, spreading malicious accusations against him and depriving him of his rights and privileges as a member of the staff.

He said that when he complained that he was being unfairly treated, an attorney representing the hospital told him, “Don’t get uppity.” On Wednesday, the attorney denied having said that.

Ware, a 39-year-old UC San Francisco Medical School graduate and former Harvard University fellow, was supported at the news conference by Anthony Essex, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, and several ministers from the black community.

Essex said the NAACP is “extremely concerned” by Ware’s allegations and will press its own independent investigation of the matter.

The Rev. E. V. Hill, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, said he believes that the “whole American dream” of equal economic opportunity “is on trial.”

The suit, which was served Wednesday, was filed Nov. 7 in federal district court in Los Angeles. It names Brotman, the Southern California Cardiovascular Group (also known as the Bliefer Group) and Brotman staff doctors Jorge Levisman, Daniel Lang, Robert Rose, George Diamond, George Scholnick, Leslie Stricke, Martin Rosenblatt and Selwyn Bliefer.

Comment Withheld

The hospital and Rosenblatt said they could not comment until they have studied the suit. The cardiovascular group could not immediately be reached. None of the other doctors could be reached Wednesday for their response to the suit.

Ware said in his suit that Brotman and the eight doctors presented “false and misleading” information to hospital committees that he was unqualified, that he performed unnecessary medical procedures, that he misinterpreted the data resulting from these procedures, that he made “questionable recommendations for treatment,” that his integrity was suspect and his medical work was unsatisfactory.

As a result, he said, a second opinion was required in all his cardiac cases and he eventually was denied permission to perform catheterization procedures at Brotman. He said that for a time, he was permitted to perform other medical procedures there only under the monitoring of other doctors and finally, in May, 1987, he was suspended from the staff.

Ware said that, at his request, he was granted a hearing by an independent board of six doctors in January, 1988. He said the board “unanimously vindicated” him and six months later he was reinstated with full privileges.

Minority of Staff

Ware said he was singled out for attack from among about 30 black members of the Brotman staff because of his exceptional success. He said the black doctors constitute a minority on the staff, despite his estimate that about 80% of Brotman’s patients are black.

The suit seeks special damages for lost income and economic harm, to be trebled under the Unruh Civil Rights Act.

Ware made news in 1987 when he was linked romantically with Maxine Thomas, who took a medical leave last May from her duties as a Los Angeles Municipal Court judge after suffering a breakdown on the bench. The two staged a lavish wedding at which Hill officiated, followed by a three-week honeymoon punctuated by charges between the two. It turned out later that there was no valid license for the ceremony and the two were never actually wed.