The Swedish Medical Association sues hospital for discrimination against a Jewish doctor

The Swedish Medical Association, the Swedish doctors’ and medical students’ union, is suing Karolinska University Hospital for discrimination against a Jewish doctor.

The doctor says that he was the victim of longstanding antisemitic abuse while working at the hospital and that he was removed from his post for being Jewish.

The lawsuit says that the doctor and other Jewish employees at the hospital were subject to antisemitic harassment on Facebook. The comments included references to his nose, and he was told that he “whined like a Jew”.

It is also alleged that the hospital prevented the doctor from conducting his research, reassigned him to other tasks, and awarded him a lower salary than other, less-qualified colleagues, even though he is well-known and very experienced in his field of practice.

The doctor claims that these instances of antisemitic harassment became worse after he initially lodged a complaint and that staff at the hospital started taking revenge on him, which eventually led to his dismissal.

Karolinska University Hospital maintains that the doctor has his employment terminated after he refused to follow the instructions of the hospital management for an extended period.

The Swedish Medical Association, however, argues that the doctor was not dismissed in good faith, and they have filed a motion requesting that his dismissal be invalidated and that he is awarded compensation.

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on antisemitic incidents in Europe, including Sweden. A recent study has reported that, in 2020, Jewish people in Sweden were the victims of 27 percent of religious hate crimes even though they make up only 0.1 percent of the population.