A woman who once worked as a surgery technician with the renowned late orthopaedist Dr. Frank Jobe Tuesday was awarded nearly $9,000 in sanctions against the company founded by Jobe and Dr. Robert Kerlan after a judge found that court orders ordering responses to written questions related to her lawsuit were disobeyed in some cases.
Kristina Holman’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against Kerlan-Jobe Surgery Center LLC also names medical partner Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as a defendant. Holman alleges retaliation and both age and disability discrimination and further contends that new management “prioritized profit over patient care,” causing her to suffer retribution when she complained.
Among Holman’s examples of unanswered written questions were one that sought the names, telephone numbers and addresses of any and all persons that worked as surgery technicians and performed the duties of a surgery technician at Kerlan-Jobe Surgery between in 2021.
Another question sought information to establish whether from 2014-21, the company regularly granted employee medical leaves far longer than Holman’s in 2021.
Holman’s attorneys maintained that Kerlan-Jobe has responded to hundreds of written discovery requests, including written questions, requests for admissions and requests for production of documents, all of which the firm maintained had undermined her claim for monetary sanctions.
However, in her written ruling, Judge Yolanda Orozco granted Holman $8,910 in monetary sanctions, although she declined to levy sanctions restricting what issues and evidence the defense could present at trial.
“Kerlan-Jobe Surgery has not demonstrated it acted with substantial justification or any other circumstances that would make imposition of monetary sanctions unjust,” the judge wrote.
Kerlan-Jobe Surgery Center LLC is a medical practice company providing outpatient orthopedic surgery and other-related services to patients and the firm was founded by Kerlan and Jobe, who pioneered sports medicine.
Jobe was the Dodgers’ first team doctor and 50 years ago pioneered Tommy John surgery, in which the physician treated the left-handed pitcher’s throwing elbow tendon tear with a technique that extended John’s career another 15 years.
The two doctors eventually added nearly every Los Angeles sports team to their list of patients. Kerlan died in September 1996 at age 74 and Jobe died in March 2014 at age 88.
Holman’s relationship with two doctors began when they were staff physicians at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood. Jobe later recruited her to work with Kerlan-Jobe during its early years when the plaintiff was in her 30s, the suit states.
Jobe emphasized quality-of-care and fostered a team effort between doctors and support staff, according to the suit.
“Ms. Holman loved her job, her co-workers and the family environment that Dr. Jobe created,” the suit states.
After Jobe’s death, Kerlan-Jobe’s new management increased its caseload and expanded its services to include pediatric orthopedics, total hip and knee replacement, spinal treatment and other services, the suit states. Kerlan-Jobe partnered with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to expand a network of surgery centers and clinics, according to the suit.
“Kerlan-Jobe prioritized profit over patient care,” the suit alleges. “It was all about the money, how many cases were coming in and less about respect for quality of patient care.”
Dr. Neal S. ElAttrache took over Jobe’s patients and his surgeries were substantially delayed because he overbooked himself, the suit alleges.
“His patients were wealthy individuals and/or notable athletes who expected the best care,” according to the suit.
ElAttrache would abandon his patients for long periods in order to handle post-operation matters for other patients and tend to his phone calls, allowing his patients to be needlessly exposed to general anesthesia and charged for unnecessary medical care, the suit states.
Holman and other employees objected to ElAttrache’s alleged conduct, but nothing was done, the plaintiff alleges.
In 2020, when Holman was in her late 50s, management pressured her to resign and asked if she was willing to work part-time because of her age, the suit filed in March 2022 states.
Holman reached her breaking point in December 2020 and protested the alleged practice of having employees work through lunch breaks as well as ElAttrache’s conduct with patients, the suit states. She was placed on a lengthy medical leave in order to undergo treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and was fired in 2021 when she sought to return after her doctor said it was OK for her to do so, the suit states.
The company continues to hire substantially younger surgery technicians, according to the suit.