Pushback: Blacklisted doctor gets lawsuit reinstated by higher court
The kind of policies advocated by Hennepin Healthcare system
that Gustilo criticized
Fight! Fight! Fight! Back in August 2021, I reported the horrible blacklisting of Tara Gustilo, a biracial physician from the Philippines, who had been demoted and experienced a $150K cut in salary at the Hennepin Healthcare system in Minnesota simply because she had posted criticisms of the racist Black Lives Matter movement as well as the critical race theory policies, now known as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), that Hennepin was pushing.
In addition to filing a discrimination complaint with the federal government, Gustilo sued, represented by the Minnesota-based Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC). You can read her lawsuit here [pdf].
That lawsuit however had been dismissed by a lower court. Last week however the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out that decision, reinstating the lawsuit.
The court’s decision can be read here. The court specifically noted that Gustilo’s right to free speech appeared to have been violated, and that fact must be considered by a jury.
The facts of the case seem to me pretty clear. Before she expressed her opinions about BLM and critical race theory, Gustilo had routinely gotten positive job reviews. Moreover, because she was biracial, she had been celebrated as an example of Hennepin’s dedication to promoting diversity. Once she spoke out, however, the company immediately moved to take away her position as chair of one department while cutting her pay, explicitly telling her that it did so because of her opinions. That action was further prompted by a wave of anger and madness among some fellow employees, whom during this time of panic had somehow lost the ability to tolerate other opinions.
What made the action even more personally galling was that the person chosen to replace her at the department asked her for advice on how to run the department, specifically because of her “continued high performance and patient satisfaction.”
Like almost all the blacklisting cases from 2020 to 2024 — all instigated by the madness of power that came after the COVID lockdowns — Gustilo’s case is steadily working its way through the courts towards a victory. During that panic, too many Americans on the left became addicted to the uncontrolled power they had obtained, and as a mob began to use it in many illegal and immoral ways to destroy those the mob did not like. That mob action however was illegal and immoral, and with time it is going to cost the mob a lot of money and time. Justice will not be done in every case, but it will be done enough times to hopefully dissuade the power-hungry from nonchalantly attempting to do it again.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The kind of policies advocated by Hennepin Healthcare system
that Gustilo criticized
Fight! Fight! Fight! Back in August 2021, I reported the horrible blacklisting of Tara Gustilo, a biracial physician from the Philippines, who had been demoted and experienced a $150K cut in salary at the Hennepin Healthcare system in Minnesota simply because she had posted criticisms of the racist Black Lives Matter movement as well as the critical race theory policies, now known as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), that Hennepin was pushing.
In addition to filing a discrimination complaint with the federal government, Gustilo sued, represented by the Minnesota-based Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC). You can read her lawsuit here [pdf].
That lawsuit however had been dismissed by a lower court. Last week however the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out that decision, reinstating the lawsuit.
The court’s decision can be read here. The court specifically noted that Gustilo’s right to free speech appeared to have been violated, and that fact must be considered by a jury.
The facts of the case seem to me pretty clear. Before she expressed her opinions about BLM and critical race theory, Gustilo had routinely gotten positive job reviews. Moreover, because she was biracial, she had been celebrated as an example of Hennepin’s dedication to promoting diversity. Once she spoke out, however, the company immediately moved to take away her position as chair of one department while cutting her pay, explicitly telling her that it did so because of her opinions. That action was further prompted by a wave of anger and madness among some fellow employees, whom during this time of panic had somehow lost the ability to tolerate other opinions.
What made the action even more personally galling was that the person chosen to replace her at the department asked her for advice on how to run the department, specifically because of her “continued high performance and patient satisfaction.”
Like almost all the blacklisting cases from 2020 to 2024 — all instigated by the madness of power that came after the COVID lockdowns — Gustilo’s case is steadily working its way through the courts towards a victory. During that panic, too many Americans on the left became addicted to the uncontrolled power they had obtained, and as a mob began to use it in many illegal and immoral ways to destroy those the mob did not like. That mob action however was illegal and immoral, and with time it is going to cost the mob a lot of money and time. Justice will not be done in every case, but it will be done enough times to hopefully dissuade the power-hungry from nonchalantly attempting to do it again.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
“During that panic, too many Americans on the left became addicted to the uncontrolled power they had obtained, and as a mob began to use it in many illegal and immoral ways to destroy those the mob did not like. That mob action however was illegal and immoral, and with time it is going to cost the mob a lot of money and time. Justice will not be done in every case, but it will be done enough times to hopefully dissuade the power-hungry from nonchalantly attempting to do it again.”
I seriously doubt this. I think the Left will work harder to infect the Justice system with like-minded judges who’ll either let the Left plaintiffs suits go forward or strike down suits against Leftist defendants.
The only way for injustices like this to be prevented is through a serious, major, and public culling of those institutions that have been infected with the belief that they can illegally, and unconstitutionally harm others because they do not conform to your groupthink. Medical, educational, LE, and judicial institutions should be at the top of the chopping block.