Social media famed doctor is accused of sexual misconduct.
Jason Campbell, MD, known to some as the TikTok Doc, has been placed on administrative leave by the University of Florida’s teaching hospital following sexual assault charges and an investigation by former employer Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Both Campbell and OHSU are facing a lawsuit for sexual assault by an employee and charges. Campbell is specifically accused of “physically assaulting the plaintiff,” identified as a social worker, “sending sexual texts and images to her mobile phone and posting sexually-charged social media messages” while he was in residency at the VA Medical Center in Portland.
The physician is also accused of “retaliating against the plaintiff and failing to meet Title IX requirements in handling reported sexual assaults.” The suit contends OHSU, a teaching hospital that places medical residents with the VA, “has a history of downplaying sexual assault; its environment is one in which sexual misconduct is permitted.” The charges against both parties include sexual assault, battery, inflicting severe emotional distress, and invasion of privacy.
The plaintiff allegedly revealed Campbell’s behavior to Esther Choo, MD, MPH, an OHSU emergency medicine professor and a founding member of TIME’S UP Healthcare, a not-for-profit that fights against sexual misconduct in the workplace, and yet says that Choo did nothing to report the misconduct.
Campbell allegedly “texted the plaintiff a picture of his erect penis. He later came up behind her and thrust his erect penis against her backside. The plaintiff wrote to him after the incident, ‘Don’t EVER surprise me by getting in my physical space’ to which he replied, ‘I should’ve asked. I’m sorry.’ The doctor then suggested he was trying to give her a hug.
The plaintiff filed a report with her supervisors on April 9, 2020, sharing inappropriate messages. Campbell reported to residency director Emily Baird, MD, that he had “fallen into a woman” and Baird, a mandated reporter, “took no action on Dr. Campbell’s confession.”
The investigative findings against the TikTok Doc reported on August 17, 2020, found Campbell had “violated its policies and code of conduct by repeatedly sending electronic messages of a sexual nature to plaintiff, including and not limited to a picture of his erection … and approaching plaintiff from behind in her office at the VA Medical Center and pressing his front side against her backside without express or implied consent.”
OHSU submitted a statement in response to the litigation, saying, “OHSU does not condone behavior as described in the lawsuit. We are continuously working to evolve our culture, policies and practices to provide an environment where all learners, employees, patients and visitors feel safe and welcome…We take our role seriously in being part of the change that needs to happen across our country to end discrimination and power dynamics that allow for harassment.”
The plaintiff is requesting a trial by jury, $4.5 million from Campbell and OHSU, and $40.5 million in punitive damages from Campbell. Since the filing, three more women have come forward with accusations of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct, including that the doctor sent to them “unwanted, sexually explicit text messages, pornographic photographs and sexually charged social media messages.”
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