The Lawfare Project and counsel in Sweden bring lawsuit exposing antisemitism at the Karolinska, home of the Nobel Prize in medicine
The Lawfare Project, working with local counsel in Stockholm, Sweden, recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of Dr. Svensson (we are using a pseudonym to protect his identity), a physician who was subjected to antisemitic discrimination and abuse at the Karolinska University Hospital and the Karolinska Institutet (whose Nobel Academy selects Nobel Prize laureates in physiology or medicine) (collectively, the "Karolinska"). The lawsuit was just covered by JNS.
Dr. Svensson and other Jewish physicians were targeted with virulent harassment and discrimination that included a supervisor posting antisemitic statements and images on Facebook and subjecting the physicians to classic antisemitic tropes. Dr. Svensson was told that he has a "Jewish nose," is stingy, and “whines like a Jew.” He was prevented from operating to the same extent as his colleagues, reassigned, and blocked from continuing important research. He and another Jewish physician received the lowest salaries among their colleagues, despite better qualifications.
When Dr. Svensson complained about the antisemitism, the Karolinska did nothing to stop the harassment and discrimination. Instead, it retaliated against him with a years-long campaign of reprisals to intimidate and silence him.
In a shocking display of institutionalized Jew-hatred, the Karolinska even submitted a complaint against him to the Health Ministry, identifying Dr. Svensson's Jewish identity as "relevant information" with regard to the risk he allegedly posed for patient safety.
The unfounded complaint was ultimately dismissed, but the Karolinska continued to retaliate against Dr. Svensson by lowering his salary, preventing him from seeing his patients or continuing his research, demoting him, and assigning duties beneath his skills and abilities with no clinical duties whatsoever — in the midst of a global pandemic.
Ultimately, he was fired after he notified Swedish government officials about the antisemitism, discrimination, and retaliatory conduct he was subjected to at the Karolinska.
"It shocks the conscience that the Karolinska not only failed to address antisemitism, but openly tolerated it and actively retaliated against a Jewish doctor brave enough to stand up against it. The Karolinska University Hospital is one of the top-ranked hospitals in the word, and the Institutet selects Nobel laureates. Neither of these honors is warranted when these institutions are so infused with systemic Jew-hatred that they must be brought into court to assure that Jewish staff members can live and work without discrimination and harassment."
— Gerard Filitti, Senior Counsel, The Lawfare Project
The Lawfare Project brings lawsuits like this one to obtain justice for the individuals affected, and for the larger Jewish community. Systemic Jew-hatred is unacceptable in the workplace, and we are proud to help brave people like Dr. Svensson stand up against bigotry and discrimination, and to eradicate Jew-hatred from modern society.