By Milton Allimadi
Photo: UofMhealth.org
Sparrow Hospital Systems, in Lansing, MI., has failed to take serious action against a veteran anesthesiologist even after his overseers believed allegations of sexual harassment against him were true on at least three separate occasions over a five-year period, Black Star News has learned.
After sexual harassment allegations in 2016 and 2019, Dr. Paul Gregory St. Claire, 71, was suspended for a few days and required to participate in “training” on each occasion, hospital documents show. After another allegation in 2021, from a patient whom he’d told had “beautiful hair and beautiful, full lips,” Dr. St. Claire was merely issued a “formal warning.”
In contrast to how Sparrow has handled the allegations against Dr. St. Claire, the hospital moved swiftly to oust then ceo, Emory Tibbs, Jr., in 2019, after he was accused of sexual harassment in a lawsuit by a former co-worker at his previous job.
On March 13, 2019, when Sparrow learned of the lawsuit against Tibbs’ by the former co-worker at Lynchburg, Va.-based Centra Health, where he’d been ceo, he was placed on paid leave the same day pending the outcome of an investigation.
Tibbs’ accuser claimed he’d solicited sex for money then assaulted her on one occasion. On March 22, just over a week after his suspension, Sparrow issued a statement saying Tibbs was “no longer employed by Sparrow Health System.” (The lawsuit was later dismissed for unspecified reasons).
On the other hand, Sparrow has been very patient with Dr. St. Claire.
Sparrow Hospital was earlier this year acquired by the University of Michigan, and is now part of Ann Arbor-based U-M Health, a $7 billion organization.
Mary Masson, a spokesperson at U-M Health, deferred questions including about the sexual harassment allegations against Dr. St. Claire to Sparrow spokesman John Foren. In an e-mail message to Black Star News, Foren said, “Following our standard policy, we cannot comment on pending legal and personnel matters.”
Jessica Larson, an attorney at Mallory Lapka Scott & Selin, PLLC, in Lansing, MI., who is representing Dr. St. Claire in a divorce action he filed against his wife in August, didn’t respond to an e-mail message from Black Star News seeking comment on several questions including the sexual harassment allegations.
Details concerning the 2016 allegations against Dr. St. Claire weren’t available. Three years later, the hospital was once again dealing with sexual harassment allegations against Dr. St. Claire, hospital documents show.
A March 14, 2019 letter addressed to Dr. St. Claire from the hospital’s Triage Committee, comprising four doctors, said he’d allegedly “initiated a conversation with staffers” that included “explicit comments regarding priests, nuns, children and celibacy and ultimately involved your pantomime of a sex act between some combination of such individuals.” The letter said it was felt Dr. St. Claire had targeted “one staff member” in particular “on the basis of her religious affiliation.”
Dr. St. Claire was required to attend a two-and-a-half day “ethics and boundaries intervention program” at the Center For Personalized Education for Professionals, in Denver, Co.
In the letter, the committee said it was “even more concerned” with Dr. St. Claire’s behavior because in 2016, it had previously addressed with him “workplace behaviors that can be construed as sexual harassment..”
On that earlier occasion Dr. St. Clair had served a three-day suspension from the medical staff and was required to “complete education regarding appropriate workplace behavior…”
In the 2019 letter, the committee listed several off-limit behaviors that could be construed as sexual harassment.
The prohibited conduct outlined included: suggesting that submission to unwelcome sexual advance will lead to a positive employment action or avoid a negative employment action; unwanted physical contact, including touching or interference with an individual’s normal work movement; derogatory slurs; off color jokes; propositions; graphic commentaries; suggestive or obscene hand or body gestures; leering; suggestive objects or pictures; and several other listed restrictions.
Dr. St. Claire was also warned against retaliating against his accusers. He agreed to the terms of the PIP, by signing off on the letter; transgressions could lead to “formal violations” and could lead to his termination.
The goal was to avoid the “need to ever revisit these issues again in the future,” the letter stated. “With that said, you agree that meaningful and effective consequences need to be established at this point if you fail to abide by this PIP and the concerns continue.”
The Triage Committee members that placed Dr. St. Claire on the PIP in 2019 included these four doctors: Denny Martin; Candace Metcalf; Robin Demuth; and, John Kepros.
How serious was the committee about its 2019 warning to Dr. St. Claire?
Two years later, Dr. St. Claire found himself once again facing another sexual harassment allegation, this time from a patient.
In a letter dated April 7, 2021 the committee, which included some new members, reminded Dr. St. Claire that in 2019 he’d been given a “collegial chance” to “modify” and “conform” his behavior “to appropriate standards.”
However, once again, “concerns” had been raised about his “professional conduct.”
“To that end, it was alleged that on February 1, 2021, you had an interaction with a female endoscopy patient in which you told the patient she had beautiful hair and beautiful, full lips,” the letter continued. “The dialogue made the patient and staff uncomfortable. The patient was so distressed about the encounter that she reached out to the staff and sought reassurances that you would not be alone in a room with the patient.”
The committee “determined that while you may have been well-intentioned,” the letter added—curiously, given the multiple previous warnings to Dr. St. Claire—“the interaction likely occurred as alleged, and was inappropriate and overly personal.”
However, the committee didn’t issue a “first formal violation” of the PIP, which it could have opted to do; this would have barred Dr. St. Claire from the hospital’s premises for 29 days. A second formal violation would immediately bar him from the hospital and require that he “voluntarily resign” from the Medical Staff. Instead, the committee issued a “formal warning.”
“Dr. St. Claire, it is important to your continued affiliation with Sparrow Hospital that you understand clearly that while the Triage Committee determined to not trigger the consequences for a First Formal Violation…” the letter concluded, “any further confirmed incidents of unprofessional conduct will likely result in the significant consequences set forth…”
The 2021 committee members who signed the letter were the following doctors: Robin Demuth, chief of staff; Brandon Francis, executive medical director of physician performance; Denny Martin, chief medical officer; Candace Metcalf, chief of staff-past; and, Lakeeya Tucker, chief of staff-elect.
As things now stand, in theory, Dr. St. Claire could commit two more transgressions—leading to two “formal violations”—before Sparrow terminates him. The hospital could also skip the two stages and fire him.
“Doctor St. Claire is being protected by the system,” one person who is familiar with the hospital’s bureaucracy said. Two other people interviewed by Black Star News concurred with this assessment.
Dr. St. Claire was having an affair with a married nurse at Sparrow Hospital this summer, according to people familiar with the matter and evidence provided.
Dr. St. Claire has been with Sparrow for over 30 years.
Editor’s Note: This article is the first of a two-part series
The author can be reached via [email protected]
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