WIN! Court rules that top Swedish hospital illegally fired Jewish neurosurgeon who complained about antisemitism

Yesterday, the Swedish Labour Court ruled against the world-renowned Karolinska University Hospital, determining that there was no legal justification for the firing of a Jewish physician after he complained about antisemitism in the workplace against three Jewish doctors. The ruling was just covered by The Jerusalem Post.

In October 2021, The Lawfare Project sent a letter to the hospital detailing “pervasive antisemitism that appears to have become normalized and systematized at the Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet." Later, in early 2022, The Lawfare Project and local counsel in Stockholm filed suit in the Swedish District Court on behalf of the Jewish physician, who was subjected to antisemitic discrimination and retaliation at the hospital and the Karolinska Institutet (whose Nobel Academy selects Nobel Prize laureates in physiology or medicine). Yesterday's ruling relates to a separate action brought by the Swedish Medical Association in June 2022, which more narrowly addresses his wrongful discharge.

“Dr. Svensson,” a pseudonym to protect the physician's identity, was fired after complaining for years about pervasive antisemitism at the Karolinska. His termination was the culmination of a series of reprisals that included lowering his salary and reassigning him to positions that precluded him from practicing his ordinary duties as a senior consultant in neurosurgery.

“The Karolinska’s admission that it wrongfully fired a Jewish doctor who complained about the antisemitism he was repeatedly subjected to is stunning,” said Gerard Filitti, The Lawfare Project’s Senior Counsel. “It is highly unusual for a defendant to admit that it had no valid legal reason to fire an employee. This is the essence of wrongful discharge, and the Karolinska’s admission draws a straight line between the discrimination targeting Dr. Svensson and the unlawful retaliation he experienced when he reported it.”

The official ruling from the Swedish Labour Court confirms the fact that Dr. Svensson was wrongfully fired from his job.

Filitti added, “The Swedish Medical Association’s case stems from the same circumstances, facts, and occurrences that led Dr. Svensson to file his initial lawsuit against the Karolinska. We are confident that when the District Court hears this case, it will reach the same conclusion as the Labour Court, namely that the Karolinska acted improperly. Ignoring antisemitism and taking punitive measures against a Jewish doctor subjected to it is simply unacceptable, and we expect a favorable ruling from the court.”