EDWARDSVILLE - A St. Clair County physician is suing his employer, claiming he was discriminated against because of his medical disabilities.
Dr. Ryan Wood filed the complaint in the Madison County Circuit Court against HSHS Medical Group Inc., Hospital Sisters Health System, Dr. Marc McCleary, Melinda Clark and Dana Pea.
According to the complaint, Wood claims he was hired by HSHS in April 2020 as a primary care and sports medicine physician working out of a location in Troy. He alleges he informed his employer that he suffered from chronic kidney disease and other medical conditions.
"Although Dr. Wood is disabled due to his medical conditions, he at all relevant times was still able to perform the functions of his employment, especially if treated fairly and with reasonable accommodations such as a reasonable work schedule to accommodate his regularly scheduled medical treatments," the suit states.
Wood claims he was told by HSHS Medical Group that he could maintain his current medical providers and could work four 10-hour days a week, "but that did not happen" until February 2021.
"Even then, however, Dr. Wood had patient times eliminated from the schedule simply because non-disabled clinic staff did not want to work then, which detrimentally impacted his compensation," the suit states.
Wood alleges HSHS also changed insurance carriers for employees, which no longer covered his medical providers. He claims the change forced him to spend thousands of dollars for treatments, the physician claims.
He also alleges his medical assistant made discriminating remarks about his disabilities. He allegedly made a formal complaint, "but there was no investigation or rectifying the discriminatory behavior."
Wood terminated his employment contract with the company effective July 9, 2021.
He seeks back pay, punitive damages, attorney fees and other compensation. He is represented by David Gearhart of Lewis Rice LLC in St. Louis.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 2022LA001