HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHP) — UPMC is facing a lawsuit from a physician who says he was fired after reporting racist text messages between other doctors.
The suit was filed March 31 by a former cardiologist who worked for UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute in Harrisburg.
The physician started his role in 2015 and never received any warnings related to performance problems, the suit says. The doctor also served as president of the Heart and Vascular Institute at UPMC Central PA from June of 2020 until he was terminated Aug. 13, 2025.
In April of 2025, the cardiologist heard from a colleague who said they filed an HR complaint over racist text messages from two other doctors.
The texts pertained to a contested cardiology fellowship and indicated “that patients do not like to be treated by brown physicians with accents and wishing luck with the effort to replace white doctors with brown ones.”
Later that month, the cardiologist emailed a complaint about the texts to the organization’s regional president, David Gibbons. Then, in May of 2025, the cardiologist met with the HR representative for UPMC of Central PA to discuss the complaint.
Come August, the cardiologist learned he was the subject of an HR investigation into alleged performance and conduct concerns. On Aug. 3, 2025, the cardiologist was placed on a precautionary two-week paid suspension.
A meeting was set for Aug. 14 to discuss the investigation with the Medical Executive Committee.
But on the day before, Aug. 13, UPMC...
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