Melissa Glasser-Caine, MD, an OB-GYN in Baldwin, N.Y., filed the lawsuit Feb. 7 against her former employers, Mount Kisco, N.Y.-based CareMount Medical and Lake Success, N.Y.-based ProHealth Care Associates. Both companies were acquired by Optum in 2022 and are currently owned and operated by the healthcare giant, also named in the lawsuit.
Dr. Glasser-Caine began working at CareMount and ProHealth in 2010, then primary care centers un-affiliated with Optum. She claims that starting around December 2019, she began facing harassment from another OB-GYN, Edmund Tomlinson, MD, that was targeted at her gender. According to the lawsuit, he “regularly engaged in harassing behavior in person and over text,” such as calling Dr. Glasser-Caine “a dumb blonde” and “pathetic.” She claims that he regularly treated her as if she were subordinate to him rather than a colleague.
Around April 2019, Dr. Glasser-Caine took her complaints about Dr. Tomlinson’s behavior to Nicholas Tarricone, MD, chairman of the OB-GYN department at ProHealth and a defendant in the lawsuit. She claims that instead of addressing the alleged harassment, Dr. Tarricone told her to stop complaining, “if you know what is good for your career.” He also allegedly told Dr. Glasser-Caine to apologize to Dr. Tomlinson for complaining about discrimination.
In a final attempt to address the harassment, Dr. Glasser-Caine reported Dr. Tomlinson’s discrimination and Dr. Tarricone’s reaction to the then-CEO of ProHealth, who did not conduct an investigation or take her complaint seriously, according to the lawsuit.
In November 2019, Dr. Glasser-Caine was transferred to another ProHealth office in Baldwin. Shortly thereafter, in February 2020, she was involved in a major ski accident that resulted in the loss of nearly all mobility in her right leg. She requested workplace accommodation that would allow her to work a limited number of hours in the mornings, which were initially approved.
In April 2023, Dr. Tarricone and his wife, Lisa Turri, MD, were transferred to the Baldwin office, despite Optum’s knowledge of their previously “hostile” relationship with Dr. Glasser-Caine, according to the lawsuit.
In August and September 2023, Dr. Glasser-Caine said that her ability to treat patients was deliberately obstructed when Dr. Tarricone manipulated the office’s scheduling system to prioritize his patients over her own, and canceled and rescheduled appointments without her consent. He also allegedly began scheduling patients outside of her approved work hours, making it difficult for her to see patients due to her disability, which directly impacted her income.
She also claims that Dr. Tarricone scheduled extra sonograms for his patients, taking up the limited time slots, in order to prevent Dr. Glasser-Caine from accessing them. She further claims that he “stole” patients from her when she referred them to Dr. Tarricone for procedures, but they never returned to her as their treating physician for non-surgical appointments, as is customary.
In October 2023, a patient informed Dr. Glasser-Caine that she had an “uncomfortable” visit with Dr. Tarricone and that he had performed an unnecessary vaginal examination on her the day prior to her scheduled procedure. An unnecessary vaginal examination is a criminal sex offense in the state of New York. Upon further review, Dr. Glasser-Caine realized that Dr. Tarricone had also billed the patient’s insurance for a rectal examination that the patient never received.
On Nov. 2, 2023, Dr. Glasser-Caine emailed Optum’s then-CEO Lawrence Shulman, MD, reporting the issues and coming forward as a whistleblower. She also refused to refer any more patients to Dr. Tarricone due to his “inaccurate medical and billing information” and other upcoding allegations.
Dr. Shulman allegedly dismissed the claims against Dr. Tarricone, and declined to launch an investigation. On Dec. 1, 2023, Dr. Turri filed a complaint that Dr. Glasser-Caine had accessed her patients’ medical records. Dr. Glasser-Caine claims that this was a false complaint made in retaliation to her reporting of Dr. Tarricone’s inaccurate billing.
Human resources placed Dr. Glasser-Caine on administrative leave for alleged unauthorized access of patients’ files on Dec. 6, 2023, pending an investigation. While on leave, Dr. Glasser-Caine’s patients told her that her employers had informed them that she had retired and was no longer in clinical practice before referring them to Drs. Tarricone and Turri.
On Jan. 5, 2024, Dr. Shulman and another Optum official informed Dr. Glasser-Caine that she was being terminated for violating the company’s policies. She claims that after she was fired, Dr. Tarricone continued to disparage her in front of patients at the Baldwin office, “further damaging [her] reputation and impeding her job opportunities.”
Becker’s has reached out to Optum and will update this story if more information becomes available.
