Brigham doctor steps down; Nurses allege obstetrician made threats

Boston Herald; Boston, Mass.; Feb 17, 2001; MICHAEL LASALANDRA;

The head of the family planning clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital has stepped down following an incident in which he was accused of threatening to kill five nurses.

The nurses told Boston police that Dr. Rapin Osathanondh made the threats during a staff meeting.

They quoted the obstetrician-gynecologist as saying, "I'm going to execute people. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to execute you, Texas-style."

A hearing on the nurses' complaint is set for Tuesday.

The incident is alleged to have occurred Dec. 27, just a day after Michael "Mucko" McDermott allegedly gunned down seven co-workers at a Wakefield office. The timing of the incident only heightened the nurses' fear, sources said.

A police report says the doctor was suspended, but a hospital spokesperson said the doctor has voluntarily stepped down pending resolution of the matter.

According to the police report, the nurses said the doctor was upset about some forms that had "disappeared" from the nurses station.

Sources said the incident occurred just days before a planned inspection by the agency that accredits hospitals.

"All of us ... felt threatened and afraid and voiced our concerns to each other," the complaint said. "Everyone felt something should be done, but we were afraid of retribution and making (the doctor) more angry and provoking him into doing something - like shooting us."

The police report identified the nurses as Kathie McCarthy, Martha Hester, Silleta Davis, Lenor Rodriguez and Samantha Legara.

Barbara Norton, head of the nurses' bargaining unit at the Brigham, said the nurses came to the union when their complaints were not acted on in a timely fashion by management. "We don't feel the hospital acted quickly enough to help these nurses," she said. "Workplace violence is one of our top issues. We are really standing behind the nurses in this matter."

Norton said in this case the hospital waited for more than a day to do something. "The hospital needed to step up to the plate and act quickly," she said. "It took them over a day. These nurses were emotionally and verbally abused."

But hospital spokeswoman Christine Baratta said the facility has "maintained an exceptional safety environment for its staff and patients. We feel we acted very proactively in this matter."

The doctor's lawyer, James Dilday, said the complaint is merely the result of a labor dispute.

In a statement, he said, "This matter grows out of a long- standing labor dispute. It is in the process of being resolved. No threats were made at all. The day following the alleged incident the Boston police were summoned anonymously. They investigated, found no evidence that any threat had been made, and left the doctor to continue his work."

But David McCarthy, husband of one of the nurses, said the labor dispute only arose after the incident, when "the hospital decided to get rid of the nurses, bring him back and bring in some nurse- practitioners." He insisted the doctor threatened his wife and the others. "He came in in a rage and threatened their lives. It's not a labor dispute. My wife hasn't slept in weeks."

McCarthy said the hospital is backing the doctor because abortion doctors are hard to find.