A Sex Predator In the House

“A sex predator is in the house,” screamed the headlines, the latest in a string of scandals about harassment of staff in hospitals, in this particular case, a story about one of the head of departments who sexually harassed his house officers. 

This hit close to home, of the stories I’ve heard and the things I’ve seen, and I can only be thankful that I was in his department at a particular time with particular specialists and colleagues who were protective of each other and helped ease the journey in an otherwise stressful department. 

Yes, sexual innuendoes were rampant, thinly veiled jokes in a ‘boys club’, but jokes were only funny to a certain extent. 

It wasn’t funny when specific individuals were targeted, leaving closed rooms with tears and tight lips. 

It wasn’t funny when individuals quit a future in medicine, unable to tolerate the mental stress that did not need to be part of a department culture. 

It wasn’t funny to be pulled into a room with senior staff on my first day in the department to be quizzed about my sexual habits. 

I left, relatively unscathed, but the stories never stopped – and restarted again earlier this year to my horror. 

Stories have a way of getting around. 

It could have been a friend. Or an acquaintance. There were often tears, and anger and a choice to leave. Some left. Maybe many left, more than I know of. 

And that did not include the ones who were left with psychological scars, the ones who were left hating themselves, feeling less than who they were. Ones who buried their own feelings so deep inside because of the humiliation endured, ones who felt that they could not speak out. 

This is the beginning of a rabbit hole. 

If you know someone who has undergone harassment in the workplace, especially sexual harassment, please seek help. If management is unable to reach a resolution, please make a police report. In our culture, and in many cultures, it is seen as something shameful, and all too often the victims are pointed at and whispered about, and forced to endure the humiliation many times over through reliving the experience. 

It is difficult when police shrug their shoulders and ask what they expect the victim to do about it. The process is difficult and discouraging, and downright disgusting at times, but it is the right thing to do. 

Once again, if you do know someone who has undergone workplace harassment, please encourage them to seek help. So many cases are unreported, and remain silent, swept under the carpet. 

But every so often, someone does something about it, and perhaps, the cogs of justice can start to turn.