Harbor-UCLA official steps down amid sexual misconduct turmoil involving former orthopedics chief
Physicians union claims Dr. Louis Kwong's alleged behavior was "an open secret ... enabled by a dysfunctional workplace culture and leadership."
A top Harbor-UCLA Medical Center official accused of protecting the hospital’s former Orthopedics Department chief from allegations of sexual misconduct involving unconscious patients as well as misogyny has resigned from one of his posts, citing apparent pressures from lawsuits filed by three physicians.
Dr. Darrell W. Harrington, who has served for nearly 20 years as Harbor-UCLA’s director of graduate medical education and designated institutional official, said in an email to staff last week that his Dec. 6 resignation was influenced by several “precipitant factors,” including health and legal issues.
“The ongoing litigation with LA County has had a significant impact on both me and my family,” he said in the email obtained by the Southern California News Group.
Dr. Carmen Mendez has assumed the role of interim designated institutional officer at the massive county hospital and will be responsible for ensuring programs comply with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Meanwhile, Harrington will retain his position as chief academic officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.
Dr. Griselda Gutierrez, chief medical officer at Harbor-UCLA, expressed appreciation for Harrington’s service. “Throughout his tenure, Dr. Harrington was committed to the growth and success of our medical education programs, contributing significantly to our institutional history,” Gutierrez said in a statement.
Harbor-UCLA, a 570-bed public teaching hospital and Level 1 trauma center in the unincorporated West Carson area, is owned by Los Angeles County and operated by DHS. Its doctors are on the faculty at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and oversee medical residents trained at the facility.
Harrington figures prominently in two lawsuits targeting former Orthopedics Department Chair Dr. Louis Kwong — one by Drs. Haleh Badkoobehi and Jennifer Hsu, both orthopedic surgeons, and another by Dr. Madonna Fernandez-Frackelton, the hospital’s former director of emergency medicine.
Both suits, filed in October in Los Angeles Superior Court, also named Los Angeles County as a defendant, alleging Harrington and other officials ignored the women’s repeated complaints about Kwong, who has been placed on administrative leave from the hospital.
Kwong and Harrington did not respond to requests for comment. Badkoobehi and Fernandez-Frackelton declined to discuss their lawsuits or Harrington’s decision to step down. Hsu did not respond to a request for comment.
Doctors union calls for probe
The Union of American Physicians and Dentists sent a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week describing Badkoobehi, Hsu and Fernandez-Frackelton as “brave,” and pledging support for their legal efforts. Additionally, the union has demanded an impartial investigation and requested transparency regarding Harrington’s alleged role in protecting Kwong.
“It appears that Dr. Kwong’s behavior was an open secret for years at Harbor-UCLA and that he was enabled by a dysfunctional workplace culture and leadership,” the UAPD said in the letter. “We are also aware that when Dr. Fernandez-Frackelton took a stand against Dr. Kwong’s behavior she was removed from her position as residency program director in what appears to be an act of retaliation. These facts are all highly disturbing and speak to what appears to be a broken culture at Harbor-UCLA and DHS as a whole.”
County Supervisor Janice Hahn this week said the board takes matters of misconduct seriously. “The county hired an outside agency to conduct a thorough investigation of the allegations, which we anticipate soon,” Hahn said in a statement Wednesday, Dec. 13.
Complaints lurid
Complaints against Kwong, who in 2022 received $957,829 in salary and benefits, are lurid and the alleged efforts to cover up his actions are expansive.
Badkoobehi and Hsu state in their lawsuit that Kwong committed sexual misconduct on unconscious patients in the Harbor-UCLA operating room in the presence of multiple witnesses. He engaged in “finger-banging” of surgical hip wounds in front of Badkoobehi while making sexual sounds and saying he was finding the “G-spot,” the suit states.
Additionally, Badkoobehi alleges Kwong undraped an anesthetized patient to look at his penis after being told it was large, and that he measured the penis size of some patients.
In another matter dubbed the “baseball incident,” Kwong purportedly ordered that a video monitor in the operating room used to display patients’ vital signs be switched off and instead used to display a baseball game so residents could watch during surgery.
Badkoobehi, who was assigned to investigate the baseball incident, alleges Kwong retaliated by stripping her of her position as associate program director.
Kwong allegedly discussed “autoerotic asphyxiation” in clinics and sex acts during surgeries, the suit alleges. Additionally, it claims Kwong fostered an environment in which residents were encouraged to attend strip clubs together, and, in at least one instance, they returned inebriated to their official graduation dinner with faculty.
Wore gun in the OR
Members of the orthopedics faculty and others also complained that Kwong, while serving as a reserve Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, carried a concealed knife and wore a gun at various times at Harbor-UCLA, including in the operating room, clinic, office and conference rooms, and at times when scrubbed in for surgery.
Staff at all medical centers are prohibited from carrying weapons or having weapons on medical campuses, according to DHS. The only exceptions are for physicians who are reserve deputies and are fully trained to perform law enforcement functions when called on assignment to provide life-saving support.
However, even then, reserve deputy physicians at Harbor-UCLA must follow strict safety protocols, including properly storing their handguns in a locked safe box while at the hospital. They are not allowed to carry a firearm during surgery.
Fernandez-Frackelton submitted a complaint to the accreditation council on March 16, 2022, contending Harrington prevented her from removing trainees — interns, residents and fellows — from the hostile work environment created by Kwong.
Harrington was aware of the grievances but undermined Fernandez-Frackelton’s authority to pull emergency medicine residents from orthopedics rotations by assuming the responsibility himself to create work schedules for all Harbor-UCLA interns, the complaint states.
Complaints about Kwong’s alleged misogyny stem partly from Hsu’s allegation that he told other physicians he wanted to get rid of her while she was out on maternity leave by getting her to switch to part-time status so he could release her, and force her to work at another county hospital.
Additionally, Fernandez-Frackelton’s lawsuit claims, “The working environment for women doctors at Harbor has become intolerable. While numerous women enjoyed positions of leadership at Harbor until recently, the administration decided that there were not enough men in leadership roles, and systemically removed a significant number of (women) in 2023.”
County silent on probationary status
In June, the ACGME, which is the accrediting agency for all U.S. physician residency and internship programs, placed Harbor-UCLA on probation for “substantial” noncompliance. Harbor-UCLA remains fully accredited for existing residency and fellowship programs, but cannot apply for ACGME accreditation of new programs while on probation.
The DHS and the ACGME will not say why Harbor-UCLA is on probation and have refused to comment on whether the status change is related to the controversy involving Kwong.
Meanwhile, Harrington says he remains committed to restoring Harbor-UCLA’s accreditation.
“Resolution of Harbor-UCLA’s ACGME probationary status remains top of mind and I will continue to support Harbor-UCLA and its leadership towards that end,” he told staff in an email. “In fact, I see this as an important priority and responsibility in my role as DHS chief academic officer.”