Boston hospital settles gender bias suit

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BOSTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A Boston hospital has agreed to settle a gender bias lawsuit by paying its former head of anesthesiology $7 million, lawyers said.

The settlement between Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Dr. Carol Warfield includes some non-financial items, The Boston Globe reported. The hospital will name its pain clinic after Warfield, sponsor an annual lecture series on women's health and contributions women have made to surgery, and will "reaffirm and clarify its policies and procedures" on discrimination.

Warfield, now 61, charged that Dr. Josef Fischer, who was then head of surgery, systematically sabotaged her and tried to have her removed after she became head of anesthesiology in 2000. She complained to Paul Levy, then the hospital's chief executive, and said he allied with Fischer to force her out of her position.

The lawsuit was filed in 2008 and had been scheduled to go to trial this week.

Warfield said she is "delighted" by the settlement. She told the Globe as a woman at one of the nation's top teaching hospitals, she feels an "obligation to keep the door open for other women."

Beth Israel Deaconess is affiliated with Harvard Medical School. It is home to the country's oldest clinical research laboratory and one of the biggest recipients of research funds from the National Institutes of Health.