Settlement Reached In Sexual Harassment Suit Against Yale Doctor

New Haven CT

16 July, 2021

2:44 PM

Description

NEW HAVEN, CT —Case dismissed. But settled. A settlement was reached in the sexual harassment lawsuit against a Yale University professor and doctor and the case was "dismissed," by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven June 29, court records show. According to the original civil complaint filed in March of 2020 in U.S. District Court filed by six "highly accomplished, dedicated and well-respected female doctors within Yale's Department of Anesthesiology" against Yale University, Yale New Haven Hospital and Dr. Manuel Lopes Fontes, it accused the latter, a Yale Professor of Anesthesiology and then-anesthesiology department's Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, with relentless —and unwanted —incidents of sexual harassment including groping and forced kissing, among other allegations. The University and hospital were named in the suit as it was alleged neither had acted upon repeated sexual harassment complaints against Fontes, who has a "sordid history of sexually harassing and acting inappropriately towards female subordinates (both at Yale and at other institutions at which he previously worked) is well known and documented. Yet, Yale welcomed him with open arms, and he remains a distinguished leader within the anesthesiology department," the complaint reads. "This lawsuit is intended to finally give a voice to those women whose stories of harrowing sexual misconduct at Yale University have been stifled for far too long, and to bring about justice against both the powerful men that have targeted them, and those at the University who have protected and supported these men," the complaint reads. According to the case docket, the judge ordered the dismissal and a "Report of Settlement." The details of the settlement are not public. While it's reported that Fontes is a "now-former" Yale professor and doctor, who was listed on the University's 2019 'Best Doctors List,' Yale New Haven Hospital still includes Fontes on its website as one of its physicians. Fontes told the Yale News in February that the allegations against him were a "a successful attempt to derail [his] chance of becoming the chair of the department," and that the six women "were discriminating against him because he is Black." Read the original complaint against Lopes, Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital here: US Dist Court CT Civil Case... by Ellyn Santiago >