New allegations of sexual assault by Dr. Jason Campbell, the TikTok doc, have been filed in the civil lawsuit against Campbell and his previous employer, Oregon Health & Science University.
The allegations are described in declarations by three OHSU nurses, who say that they, too, were assaulted and harassed by Campbell. Their testimony mirrors incidents outlined in the complaint, filed by a former OHSU social worker known as A.B. against Campbell and the institution. Neither OHSU nor Campbell have formally responded to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland.
In one of the declarations, a registered nurse accuses Campbell of coming into a utility room and grabbing her hips from behind once the door shut. She said he pushed his erection into her.
“He forcefully grinded into my backside as if to make sure I felt his erection,” the filing says. “I remember Jason Campbell asking me something along the lines of ‘Do you like that?’ or ‘What do you think of that?’” the filing says.
The nurse, who is not named, says in the declaration that she pushed him away and yelled at him.
Another OHSU nurse, who also is not named, said she experienced the same assault from behind while alone with him in a room. Campbell also sent her “a disappearing photo of his erection through his scrubs,” the declaration says. It details FaceTime incidents in which Campbell whipped out his erect penis.
“The next morning, I saw Jason Campbell had posted on social media declaring his love to his girlfriend,” the declaration says. “I found this to be disturbing behavior.”
She accuses Campbell of inviting her to his apartment and sending her his address.
She says she reported his behavior to two physicians who urged her to contact the administration but says she did not take any action against him because feared repercussions, the declaration says.
It says that last March, Campbell bragged to her that multiple sexual complaints against him by women in OHSU’s intensive care unit had been buried because he was protected by Dr. Emily Baird, director of OHSU’s anesthesiology program. Campbell was an anesthesiology resident.
Campbell told her “‘I have Emily Baird wrapped around my finger,” the declaration says.
“Once Jason Campbell became popular through social media, leaders at OHSU seemed protective of him,” the declaration says. Campbell’s dance videos went viral, earning him the nickname of the TikTok doc.
The complaint says that Baird knew about allegations against Campbell but did not report them as required by OHSU policy.
“Jason Campbell walked around OHSU as if he was a celebrity, and everyone treated him as such,” a declaration says. “This only solidified my fear that OHSU would not believe me if I came forward and reported the assault.”
The nurse says she finally reported his behavior last December, adding that she now feels guilty for not having taken action sooner.
She says in the declaration that OHSU’s affirmative action office did not offer to provide her with counseling. Instead, she was told “we’re closing this because Jason is gone,” the filing says. Campbell quietly left OHSU late last year.
A third OHSU employee says she was interviewed by OHSU last spring about her interactions with Campbell. Campbell assaulted and harassed A.B. between January and March last year, according to the lawsuit. A.B. reported the behavior to at least 13 officials and most took no action, the suit says.
The woman who was interviewed says in the declaration that in 2019 Campbell roamed her unit, asking for “free hugs.” He hugged her twice and touched her shoulders, the declaration says.
“I asked him to stop these behaviors multiple times,” the declaration says.
In a statement, the administration has said Campbell left in connection with a dismissal hearing against him. He apparently signed a nondisclosure agreement with OHSU upon leaving, according to A.B.’s Portland-based lawyer, Michael Fuller. Such agreements are commonplace when employees leave OHSU following a dispute or conflict.
Sources told The Lund Report that OHSU found him a job in Florida. He was put on administrative leave at the University of Florida last week amid the publicity about the lawsuit.
The nurse’s declaration indicates that Campbell felt untouchable.
OHSU did not respond to a request for comment about the latest allegations. Previously, a spokeswoman said the institution does not condone behavior described in the lawsuit.
The declarations follow a filing by Fuller asking that his client’s identity remain protected.
“I have been contacted by other women who also said they experienced sexual harassment at OHSU but would not feel comfortable signing declarations in this case or going public out of fear of retaliation and harm to their careers in the health care industry,” he statement says. It says the parties had tried but failed to resolve the dispute.
On Monday, OHSU’s lawyers threatened to file a motion to restrict comment in the case, Fuller told The Lund Report. Fuller and A.B.’s other lawyer, Kim Sordyl, have publicly commented about the lawsuit. Sordyl, based in Portland, also attended a rally with dozens of OHSU employees last week in support of A.B. She told The Lund Report that she was heartened that the employees took a public stance.
The lawsuit points the finger at several prominent OHSU physicians, including Dr. Esther Choo, professor of emergency medicine and a co-founder of Times Up Healthcare. Choo has been a vocal advocate against the kind of gender descrimination described by other lawsuits against OHSU.
Yet the lawsuit says that Choo did not report the abuse suffered by A.B. but instead offered to sit down with Campbell or have his program director -- Baird -- talk to him. The lawsuit also says she told A.B. that reporting sexual abuse was “never, ever worth it.”
OHSU policy requires staff to report incidents of discrimination and harassment, though employees have repeatedly complained to The Lund Report that the administration fails to follow up and even forces complainers out.
Choo’s alleged reaction to A.B. prompted about a dozen co-founders and members of Times Up Healthcare, formed to fight gender discrimination in medicine, to quit the organization. Choo is a co-founder of the group along with Laura Stadum, OHSU’s affirmative action chief and Title IX coordinator.
Times Up issued a statement in support of the survivor but did not mention Choo. Several members of the organization who quit said they were disappointed in the group’s failure to address the allegations against one of their founders.
“Earlier today I resigned from @TIMESUPHC,” Dr. Angela Lawson, a psychologist at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Illinois and a founding member of Times Up Healthcare, said in a Tweet. “I remain passionate and committed to the fight to end harassment.”
Choo has not responded to the allegations in the lawsuit, which says she offered to sit down with Campbell but did not report the allegations. But a spokeswoman, who issued a statement on Sunday, said Choo did not challenge the allegations because she wanted the focus to be on the survivors, that she was friends with A.B. and that Campbell was guilty of serious wrongdoing.
The statement said Choo did everything she could to protect A.B.
A.B.’s lawyer said in the lawsuit that he tried to settle the case via email but that the two sides failed to reach an agreement.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and $45 million in damages.
You can reach Lynne Terry at [email protected] or on Twitter @LynnePDX.
